Andrew Crofts
Andrew Crofts was born in Chatham, England, United Kingdom on May 29th, 1984 and is the Soccer Coach. At the age of 40, Andrew Crofts biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 40 years old, Andrew Crofts has this physical status:
Andrew Lawrence Crofts (born 29 May 1984) is a professional footballer who plays for Brighton and Hove Albion under the age of 23.
He has appeared at international level for Wales for 29 years. He began his football career with Gillingham, for whom he made his Football League debut at the age of 16, and played for the Kent-based team for more than 190 games.
He spent time at Peterborough United and Wrexham between 2008 and 2009, and joined Brighton & Hove Albion in 2009.
He moved to Norwich City in 2010, before returning to the South Coast club in 2012. Crofts, a tackling midfielder who was born in Wales, was a fixture in the Welsh game for under-19 and under-21 age, winning his first senior cap in 2005.
He earned his 12th cap in 2008, tying for the most international caps received by a Gillingham player.
Early life
Crofts was born in Chatham, Kent, and began playing competitive football at the age of six for a club in nearby Rainham. He attended weekly training sessions organized by Premier League club Chelsea between the ages of ten and fifteen. He tried out on two occasions for the English Schools Football Association's national schoolboy team, but was turned down.
Personal life
Crofts, a Chelsea fan who lived in a flat with club future captain John Terry, for one season. During his time as Gillingham's captain, he was involved in a number of charitable causes, including acting as a celebrity waiter at a Gillingham pub and handing a signed shirt to a brain injured teenage fan. Lily, his grandmother who had died several months before, was devoted a match-winning goal in January 2005.
Club career
Crofts joined Gillingham as a student in September 2000 and was a regular in the club's youth and reserve teams from 2000 to 2001. He was a surprise inclusion in the first team squad for a match against Watford, right before his 17th birthday, and made his Football League debut as a late replacement, replacing Marlon King. He broke his leg during a reserve team match and missed several months of the season the following season. Despite being back in action in early 2002, his first appearance for the first team came not until October, when he was brought on as a replacement in a League Cup match against Stockport County. This was his only senior appearance of the 2002–03 season. He finally secured a regular first team spot after the 2004 season, and appeared on a regular basis during March and April.
Crofts made his first team regular in the 2004-05 season, making 27 Football League appearances and scoring his first senior goal for the club in a loss to Brighton & Hove Albion on December 26th. In January 2005, he signed a new deal that would keep him at the club until 2009. He was suspended from the team for the majority of March and April, but he was activated for the final game of the season, in which a draw with Nottingham Forest moved the "Gills" from the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football, to Football League One, the third tier. He made the most appearances in the Gillingham squad during the 2005–06 season, losing only one of the team's 46 matches in League One. Despite the fact that the team struggled in the league, finishing in the bottom half of the table, they defeated Premier League Portsmouth in the League Cup, with Crofts scoring the winning goal. Gillingham made over 40 appearances and eight goals in the first season, his highest figure for an individual season, but Gillingham also finished the season in last place. On December 18, 2006, he made his 100th appearance for the club against AFC Bournemouth, and he honoured the occasion with a goal. He earned four awards at the club's Player of the Year competition and was named Mr Gillingham by then-manager Ronnie Jepson, and was dubbed Mr Gillingham at the end of the season. In the 2007–08 season, he took over as team captain, but the team, who were relegated from League One, had a rough season. Following his deposition of the captaincy in October, Barry Fuller took over the role. Mark Stimson said he felt that the captaincy had been too much of a burden for Crofts and had a negative effect on his appearance. Crofts were released for transfer shortly after, and the club shortly after.
He joined Peterborough United on loan in November 2008. He went back to Gillingham in January and spent a second loan term, this time to Wrexham until the end of the season. He made his debut on the same day against Burton Albion in a 2–1 loss. He was released from his employment upon his return to Gillingham from his loan spell.
Crofts agreed to join Brighton & Hove Albion on a two-year deal on June 29, 2009. During Brighton's 1–0 home loss to Walsall on August 8, 2009, he scored his first goal for Brighton during a 2–2 draw at Yeovil Town on October 10, 2009. Until Southampton's 3–1 away victory, Crofts was given the role of captain by new boss Gus Poyet. Crofts was later appointed as the permanent captain at the start of January 2010.
Norwich City reported the acquisition of Crofts from Brighton for an undisclosed fee, likely to be in the region of £300,000. He was the club's first signing of the summer transfer window after signing a three-year contract at Carrow Road. He scored a goal against Watford on his debut on August 6, 2010. In his first season with the "Canaries," he gained promotion to the Premier League for the first time. He began his career as a regular starter for Norwich in the top tier, but the club's second half of the 2011–12 season saw him decline in favour.
In August 2012, Crofts was moved to Brighton for an undisclosed fee.
Crofts re-joined Gillingham on loan until the end of the season on March 19, 2016.
Crofts agreed to a one-year deal with Charlton Athletic on July 22, 2016. In a 1–1 draw with Southend United on December 31, 2016, he scored his first goal for Charlton. The club announced on September 1st that he had ended his deal by mutual agreement.
On August 31, 2017, Crofts signed with Scunthorpe United for a one-year deal, according to the North Lincolnshire-based club. He was not offered a new deal on May 18th.
On June 26, 2018, Crofts signed for Newport County on a one-year deal. In a 3–0 loss at Mansfield Town on August 4, he made his Newport debut. In the League Two playoff final at Wembley Stadium on May 25, Crofts was a 90th minute replacement for Newport. He was released by Newport at the end of the 2018-19 season.
Crofts became a player-coach for Yeovil Town in June 2019. He left Brighton & Hove Albion as a player-coach with the club's under-23 team on July 27, 2019. In the EFL Trophy's 2–0 away win over AFC Wimbledon on September 3, he was playing for Brighton U21s.
International career
Since representing Wales at the under-19 and under-21 levels, he was eligible to play for Wales' first senior cap, an award given to a player representing his national team in 2005. He won his twelfth cap in 2008, breaking the record for the most international caps received by a Gillingham player. In 2002, Crofts was selected for the Welsh national under-19 team, qualifying due to the fact that he had a Welsh grandparent. In Northern Ireland's first match, he made his first appearance for the team in the Milk Cup tournament, but he was forced to return home after suffering an ankle injury in the Welsh team's first match. In total, he made eight appearances at under 19, including in his second appearance in a second Milk Cup in 2003.
Crofts was chosen for the national under-21 team for the first time in February 2005 after progressing to the under-21 level. He went on to gain 12 caps at this level, with one of them scoring one goal.
On October 12, 2005, he made his Welsh national team debut against Azerbaijan, replacing Carl Fletcher as a replacement. Crofts earned two more caps, both as a replacement against Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago, as part of manager John Toshack's policy of introducing young players to the team, during the 2005-06 season, as well as an unofficial international match against a Basque Country XI.
For the first time in August 2007, he was in the starting lineup for an international, but he was back on the substitutes' bench for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Bulgaria the following month. During the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying tournament, he was confirmed as a regular member of the Welsh squad.
Coaching career
After spending the previous season as a player-coach of the academy, Crofts became the head coach of the Brighton academy on June 5, 2021, effectively ending his playing career. In a 1–0 away loss to Walsall in the EFL Trophy group stage on Thursday, his first professional match as a manager took place on September 14th. In a 2–1 away victory over Northampton in the EFL Trophy, Crofts earned his first competitive win as a manager on 2 November.
After Graham Potter's departure on September 8, 2022, he was named interim head coach of Brighton's first team. Crofts was drafted to the first team coaching staff after Roberto De Zerbi was appointed to replace Potter as manager.