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50 years ago this week ! Tommy Craig arrived.


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Tommy was never a perfect fit for Wednesday. His signing smacked of Eric Taylor trying to appease our weary fans of trying to shake off the 'Nearly Team' label. The ink wasn't dry on the transfer form as when asked about selection Eric Taylor interjected with " The team will be Craig and ten others". That must have been a great shot in the arm for the rest of the squad. Tommy Craig became the star of the show but like so often he needed two or three other impresarios to play with him. Craig became the superstar destined to lead us into a downward spiral unfortunately !

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It’s official....I am now very, very old. Was 13 when he signed, saw his debut v Tottenham. Always a class player, sweet left foot. It was always our TC against the other lots TC...as to who had the best player in the 70’s. Rock on Tommy!

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Being the only Wednesdayite in my group of friends at the time,I was chuffed to bits that I had at last something to brag about! A 100K teenager! Never saw him play,but according to my scrapbook he was class.

 

Anyone know what he's up to these days? I last remember him being a coach at Celtic.

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26 minutes ago, sternlad said:

It’s official....I am now very, very old. Was 13 when he signed, saw his debut v Tottenham. Always a class player, sweet left foot. It was always our TC against the other lots TC...as to who had the best player in the 70’s. Rock on Tommy!

I would have swopped Currie for Craig in the blink of an eye; Better still I would have had them playing together. Add to those two,  teenage Terry Curran and we may have had a revolution on our hands !

 

Imagine Wednesday v The Baggies  The three Degrees v The Three TC's 

Edited by nevthelodgemoorowl
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A tidy, skilful little player during a period where we were devoid of others that could play with him.

Yes there were some reasonable names amongst his team mates but there were players like Prophett, Thompson, Todd, Wilcockson, Branfoot and others who just weren’t on the same page as him.

The right player at the wrong time.

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I was excited when he signed,I thought he would be the missing puzzle piece,he was a talent without a doubt,saw his debut against spurs and that rasping 30 yarder warmed Jennings fingers in anotherwise dull end of term game.

But what followed was a disintegration,McCalliog had long been my favorite Owl,but steadily through that season the quality and experience was sold off and replaced by untried youngsters or lower league players that hadnt actually shone in their own divisions,Downes,Warboys,Wilcockson & Lawson joined Sinclair,Coleman & Grummitt,with youth team players,Burton,Prophett & later Prendergast,all of whom were a a couple of divisions at LEAST below the player they replaced,Craig stood out head and shoulders & when the inevitable came,it was in the cruelest of nights,the final game.

What followed was 14 years of rebuilding to get back our old status,they were long years watching some awfull players and teams,long journeys to carlisle and exeter and plymouth.

Craig was often the only glimmer of class in the early stages of the deline,but for a brief flourish under Derek Dooley,the Tommy Craig experiment was a complete disaster for both parties.

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Was that excited when we signed TC I spent the next few games solely watching him.

 

He was immensely talented, could spot a cross field pass and execute it perfectly, sadly we had no one that could anticipate it at the time, we soon brought him down to our level.

 

A bright spark in a pretty dismal period, often wondered if he regretted the move.

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I'm old enough to remember him playing  good player as I remember but the team was poor, a vanity project for the man in charge roll on nearly 50 yrs it seems like Wednesday as usual has blown our load on one player to the detriment of the team 

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My stand out memory of him was a volleyed pass from on the halfway line by the South stand that landed at Jackie Sinclair’s feet on the right wing over by block T of the North, that and a little party trick he did in the warm up where he could pop the ball up to head height from the floor by just snapping his feet together like scissors...my God how many times did I try that trick and fail. Top man Tommo!

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6 hours ago, belfast owl lad said:

Being the only Wednesdayite in my group of friends at the time,I was chuffed to bits that I had at last something to brag about! A 100K teenager! Never saw him play,but according to my scrapbook he was class.

 

Anyone know what he's up to these days? I last remember him being a coach at Celtic.

Fired by St Mirren in 2014
Went on to star in Corry ... oh wait .. that's wrong...

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Jack Marshall the manager?  Eric Taylor the general manager? The club was relegated at the end of the following season under Danny Williams. The money spent on Tommy could possibly have been spent better.

 

Ten years earlier, another Craig had arrived, Bobby Craig, another "inside forward", fiery little man who for a few years had a very good  passing game, feeding right wingers Alan Finney/Derek Wilkinson.

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