Crainie, Danny

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Fullname: Daniel Crainie
aka: Danny Crainie
Born: 24 May 1962
Birthplace: Kilsyth, Scotland
Signed: 3 Aug 1979
Left: 30 Oct 1983 (loan to Wolves); 2 Dec 1983 (permanent to Wolves)
Position: Midfield/Winger
Debut: Celtic 2-2 Partick Thistle, League, 20 Feb 1982
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 1 cap for U-21s

Biog

Danny Crainie was born in Kilsyth and a Celtic fan from birth and having impressed with Celtic Boys Club Danny was signed by Billy McNeill for the Hoops in August 1979.

Danny first sprang to prominence in November 1981 when he was part of the Celtic team that won the Daily Express 5 a side tournament at Wembley. Celtic’s side was Latchford, W McStay, Garner, Weir, Crainie and Nicholas and was tremendously inexperienced but defeated the international packed teams of Ipswich. Man Utd and Southampton, Kevin Keegan et al, in the final. The Celtic fans who watched on Sportsnight on the BBC were tremendously impressed with Danny’s touch and close control.

When Charlie Nicholas and Frank McGarvey broke their legs in early 1982 Billy McNeill was required to promote from within and Danny Crainie made his debut as sub on February 20th 1982 with Celtic 2-0 down to Partick Thistle at Parkhead. He helped Celts make a rousing comeback with goals from McCluskey and Aitken and only a magnificent save at the death from Alan Rough prevented a dream debut for the young Danny.

Despite being predominately left footed he was capable of playing on the right wing, when Davie Provan was missing, and had a wonder game at Love Street on March 13th when Celtic won 5-2 after running up a sensational 4-0 lead at half time. Most of the good play had came down Celtic’s right flank with the trio of McGrain/Sullivan/Crainie well to the fore. Two weeks later he tore Aberdeen left back Doug Rougvie to shreds but Celtic could not convert their good play. McCluskey missed a penalty and Celtic lost to a freak goal by Stewart Kennedy.

This win had given Aberdeen impetus and Celtic and the Dons now battled for the title. When Provan returned Danny was moved to the centre of the attack alongside McCluskey and now proved he had an eye for goal, his first goal came at Cappielow on April 3rd in a 1-1 draw with Morton. Exactly one week later he made his Old Firm debut and scored a sensational goal after only 50 seconds. Celtic attacked down the right flank and when Dom Sullivan sent the ball across goal, Danny managed to bundle the ball past Jim Stewart at the back post. It was not pretty but it was effective and he played well, helping Celtic to a much needed 2-1 win.

Celtic embarked on a good run of wins with Danny very much to the fore in attack and on April 24th he scored a second half hat trick against Scotland World Cup keeper Alan Rough in a 3-0 win showing great opportunism in doing so. On May 8th an injury ridden Celtic side travelled to Tannadice needing a point to clinch the title but went down 3-0 leading to worries over the destination of the League trophy. On May 15th in the last League game against St.Mirren at Parkhead Celtic were drawing 0-0 at half time and nerves began to show in the crowd as one point was still required. The team came out in the second half and turned on the style winning 3-0 and Crainie celebrated wildly with the happy fans who had invaded the field at the final whistle. Danny was right to celebrate as the title would not have been won without his seven goals in fourteen games.

Competition was fierce for positions in the Celtic attack at the start of the 1982/83 season and Danny found it difficult to hold down a place. A rejuvenated McGarvey/Nicholas partnership cracked in 70 goals between them, keeping George McCluskey on the sidelines also. In view of this it was not surprising that Crainie made only a handful of appearances, scoring the one goal against Arbroath in the League Cup.

In June 1983 his close friend Nicholas signed for Arsenal in a blaze of publicity and Billy McNeill resigned as manager after having problems with chairman Desmond White. Davie Hay was the new manager and Danny partnered new signing Brian McClair in attack at Firhill in the Glasgow Cup in Hay’s first game in charge in early August. It was a promising start as Crainie and McClair both scored in a 2-0 win. However the team struggled in the final against Rangers at Hampden and Hay signed Jim Melrose from Coventry City for a then considerable fee of £100,000. Danny’s days were numbered as he was now fourth choice behind McGarvey, Melrose and McClair.

His last appearance was as a sub against St.Johnstone on September 10th 1983 and within weeks he was on his way to Wolves for a fee of £20,000 where he made 64 appearances. Danny subsequently played out his career at various clubs in Scotland namely Dundee and Kilmarnock as well as having spells in Australia and Ireland.

Whilst in Australia, his connections to Celtic were not to end, incredibly playing alongside future Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou!

Danny Crainie was a Celtic fan in a jersey and gave his all for the hoops. It is a pity he did not stay a bit longer as he had a lot to offer. He should be remembered very fondly for his contribution to the title victory in 1981/82 which likely wouldn’t have happened without his invaluable goals.

Post-playing
Danny Crainie started working as a youth team coach for Celtic in season 1994-95 and continued through to the reorganisation of the Celtic Youth Development programme.

His contract was terminated by Jock Brown and Eric Black in October 1997, with not a small amount of dissatisfaction from Crainie as his reputation and results working with the youngest players was exemplary.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

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Articles

The day Danny Crainie was on top of the world Sport | Published: Dec 15, 2010

Danny Crainie never got close to winning a World Cup. Subscribe to our daily newsletter Danny Crainie never got close to winning a World Cup. But one night — November 26, 1983 — he felt like he had. And it was all because he was a hero of the Black Country derby. They were desperate times for Wolves — bottom of Division One having gone 19 games without a win.

But Crainie — a slight, skilful winger with the highlighted mullet that could have come straight out of any New Romantic band of the day — washed all the pain away with a superb two-goal salvo to propel Wolves to a 3-1 win against Albion at The Hawthorns. And to cap it all, fans could savour the action on Match of the Day later that night.
“It was the last game of my loan from Celtic so I didn’t know much about the derby, but the players and the fans kept hammering it home to me how important it was, even though we were bottom of the league,” said Crainie, now 48. “So by the time the game came around, I was well aware of it. “The Baggies were a decent team, halfway up the league while we were down at the bottom but I wasn’t fazed at all — I really enjoyed it. “I’ve still got the tape and I watch it sometimes. “I just felt that whoever got the first goal would go on and win. “Anyway, Kenny Hibbitt picked the ball up wide right and floated in a cross to Wayne Clarke, who won it in the air and I got around the back and smacked it in with my left foot into the bottom corner.

“That first goal was so important and once we got a second, it was game over and the third was the icing on the cake. “For our second, Andy Blair won a challenge midway in their half and he passed to me and I just ran with it before taking it into the inside right position. “I feinted to go right and dragged it back on to my left foot and just battered it into the top corner. “If I remember correctly, it featured on Goal of the Season which was nice.” If memories of the game are still clear for Crainie, then so is the reaction.
“We had the end behind the goal and I remember the fans singing all match — I was only disappointed that our goals were at the other end,” he said. “Mind you, they sung all season, despite the results. “Anyway, that night back in Wolverhampton, it was as if we’d won the World Cup! “We were still bottom of the league, but we’d beaten Albion — our equivalent of the Old Firm. “It was unbelievable — people were buying me drinks all night, I never had to put my hand in my pocket once.
“It was just so great to see the joy on people’s faces. “I loved my time at Wolves and thought I had better individual games than that, but whenever I speak to anyone about my time at Wolves, that’s all they ever want to talk about!” Crainie ultimately became a fading symbol of Wolves’ sad decline. But he is indebted to those who made his time a happy one, if not on the pitch.

He was big pals with Charlie Nicholas from their time at Celtic, and Nicholas had had a trial at Wolves.

“Things didn’t happen for him at Wolves — he played as sweeper — but I phoned him up to ask him about going there,” he said. “He was one of the top players in the country at the time having not long joined Arsenal and he just said: ‘If you’re not playing at Celtic, then it’s time to move, so go for it’. “I was earning £400 a week at Wolves after being on £300 a week at Celtic and I got a good signing-on fee. “So Wolves looked after me.”

Crainie is now working at a residential school to rehabilitate young offenders in Glasgow and understands only too well the dangers of going off the rails. He added: “People like Kenny Hibbitt were great for me — what a good footballer and a really nice guy. “I used to room with him and he used to put me right. “You could see he really loved the club and he was pained by what was going on. “I liked a night out but he told me to be careful about what I was doing and who I was out with and he was spot on because I probably finished my career too early.”