Manchester City

As a club trainee, Crooks signed his first professional contract with Premier League club Manchester City on 1 August 1994 (aged 16 years, 6 months, 18 days). By September 1996 he was being included in the first team squad for games by caretaker manager Asa Hartford

Asa Hartford

Richard 'Asa' Hartford is a retired Scottish international midfielder and footballer who became famous for failing a medical examination due to the discovery of a heart condition which put paid to a high profile transfer to Leeds United in November 1971.-Early career:He first played for Drumchapel...

 as one of three promising youngsters.

City were relegated to Division 1 at the end of the 1995-6 season, and two years later, again, falling to Division 2, their lowest ever level. Through two successive promotions however, via the play-offs from Division 2 and then by automatic promotion from Division 1, the club had returned to the Premier League in the minimum time just 2 years later, in time for the start of the 2000-1 season.

Crooks was in the Manchester City team that won that 1999 Division 2 play off final

1999 Football League Second Division play-off Final

The 1999 Football League Second Division playoff final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium on 30 May 1999, to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Second Division to the First Division of The Football League in the 1998–99 season. Gillingham faced...

 at Wembley Stadium against Gillingham

Gillingham F.C.

Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...

 in dramatic fashion, albeit substituted on 85 minutes for Gareth Taylor

Gareth Taylor

Gareth Keith Taylor is a Welsh former footballer who is now working as a coach at Premier League club Manchester City....

. Having come back from a 2-0 deficit with 2 minutes remaining, City scored twice to take the game into extra time, and then after no further scores, winning the subsequent penalty shootout.

On 26 December 2000 he went out on loan to Northampton Town

Northampton Town F.C.

Northampton Town Football Club are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in Football League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season...

. He made 3 appearances before returning on 23 January 2001. On 7 March 2001 Crooks was sold by City to Barnsley

Barnsley F.C.

Barnsley Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Nicknamed the Tykes, they were founded in 1887 under the name Barnsley St. Peter's...

 for £190,000.

Crooks scored two goals for Manchester City, both in the league. It was three years before he scored his first goal, an equaliser against Chesterfield

Chesterfield F.C.

Chesterfield Football Club is an English football club based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The club currently plays in Football League One, the third tier of English football. Despite being the fourth oldest Football League club in England, they have spent most of their existence in the lower...

 in an away game on 27 February 1999, which ended 1-1. In his 6 and half years at the club Crooks had made 62 competitive appearances, including 50 in the league, and 5 each in the FA and League Cups.

Barnsley

For Barnsley, Crooks made 56 competitive appearances, including 50 in the league, and 2 each in the FA and League Cups. He didn't make his debut until the start of the 2001/2 season, being delayed for several months as he had operations on an injured medial collateral ligament.

With new manager Paul Hart

Paul Hart

Paul Hart is an English football manager and former football defender, who is currently Academy Director at Charlton Athletic. The son of Johnny Hart, a football inside forward and manager, Hart had five-year spells with both Blackpool and Leeds United, while also playing for Nottingham Forest and...

 performing a summer clear out after the 2003/4 season, Crooks was given the chance to prove his fitness during the summer in order to earn a new contract. He was released by Barnsley on 28 June 2004, signing on 1 August 2004 for Bradford City

Bradford City A.F.C.

Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....

.

Bradford City

In a total of 50 competitive appearances for Bradford he scored 2 goals. He scored once in 44 appearances in the league, with his other goal coming in one appearance in the FA Cup (an equaliser against Tranmere in November 2005). He was also used a further 3 times in the League Cup.

Due to limited first team opportunities he went out on loan to League 2 side Notts County

Notts County F.C.

Notts County Football Club are an English professional football club based in Nottingham. They are the oldest of all the clubs in the world that are now professional, having been formed in 1862. They currently play in League One of The Football League, the third tier of the English football system...

 on 9 January 2006. He made 18 league appearances for Notts County under his former Barnsley manager Gudjon Thordarson, scoring 1 goal. After returning to Barnsley, on 8 May 2006 he was released by the club as surplus to requirements. He then entered talks with Notts County, but that did not lead to a contract.

Rochdale

As a free agent, Crooks began pre-season training with League 2 side Rochdale, before signing a 12 month contract on 3 August 2006, linking up with his former Barnsley manager Steve Parkin

Steve Parkin

Stephen John "Steve" Parkin is an English former footballer and manager, currently working as assistant manager at Bradford City.-Mansfield Town:...

. Crooks made 35 appearances for Rochdale, including 31 in the League, and 1 each in the FA and League Cups. Crooks left Rochdale by mutual consent on 26 March 2008 due to limited opportunities, having made just 5 appearances during that season, and none since December 2007.

Later career

Crooks chose not to join another club for the remainder of the 2007-08 season, to concentrate on training for an attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro

Mount Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:...

 in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support

Macmillan Cancer Support

Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the largest British charities and provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer....

 in June 2008.

On 23 July 2008, Crooks joined the West Yorkshire club Guiseley

Guiseley A.F.C.

Guiseley A.F.C. are an English football club from Guiseley, West Yorkshire, England.-History:Founded in 1909 by a local group of enthusiasts, the club’s first success came in 1913 when they won the local Wharfedale League...

, playing in the Northern Premier League First Division

Northern Premier League First Division

The Northern Premier League First Division was a football league covering the north of England. After the creation of Conference North/South in the 2004-05 season it sat at level 8 of the English football league system....

. On 31 December 2008 he moved from Guiseley to another West Yorkshire club, Ossett Town

Ossett Town F.C.

Ossett Town Football Club are an English football club based in Ossett, in the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, playing in the Northern Premier League in the 2011-12 season.-History:...

, playing in the Northern Premier League Premier Division

Northern Premier League Premier Division

The Premier Division is the top division of the Northern Premier League. It is at Step 3 of the National League System, placing it six divisions below the Premier League...

.

Playing style and recognition

Icelander Gudjon Thordarson, his manager at Barnsley and Notts County, referred to Crooks as 'The Beast' due to his combativeness. Crooks said before his Notts County debut, "If there is a tackle to be won, I am in there. I do like a good tackle".

While not a prolific scorer, his first professional goal in 1999 was described by The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

as a "tremendous shot which thundered in off the post." Similarly, his FA Cup goal for Bradford City in 2005 was described by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 as powerful shot which cannoned off the bar and in.

In February 2009, Crooks was described by The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

as a "versatile defender and midfielder who...had his most productive season in helping [Manchester] City win promotion [in 1999]".

Military career

After quitting football, Crooks chose a new career path in the British Armed Forces

British Armed Forces

The British Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Also known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown, the British Armed Forces encompasses three professional uniformed services, the Royal Navy, the...

. Choosing not to follow his younger brother into the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

, Crooks instead signed up as an enlisted member

Other Ranks

Other Ranks in the British Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force are those personnel who are not commissioned officers. In the Royal Navy, these personnel are called ratings...

 (gunner) of the RAF Regiment

RAF Regiment

The Royal Air Force Regiment is a specialist airfield defence corps founded by Royal Warrant in 1942. After a 32 week trainee gunner course, its members are trained and equipped to prevent a successful enemy attack in the first instance; minimise the damage caused by a successful attack; and...

, the infantry unit of the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

, whose role is to provide force protection of RAF airfields and bases.

In February 2011 at 33 years old, he completed his seven months of RAF Regiment basic training, passing out as a Leading Aircraftman

Leading Aircraftman

Leading aircraftman Leading aircraftman (LAC) Leading aircraftman (LAC) (or leading aircraftwoman (LACW) is a rank in some air forces, between aircraftman and senior aircraftman and having a NATO rank code of OR-2. The rank badge is a horizontal two-bladed propeller....

 (equivalent to NATO rank OR-1, or Army Private). His instructor praised his natural leadership ability shown during the course. Initially posted to No. 1 Squadron RAF Regiment

No. 1 Squadron RAF Regiment

No. 1 Squadron RAF Regiment is a field squadron of the RAF Regiment in the Royal Air Force. Its mission is protection of RAF bases from ground attack. It is currently based at RAF Honington.- History :...

 based at RAF Honington

RAF Honington

RAF Honington is a Royal Air Force station located south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England. Although used as a bomber station during the Second World War, RAF Honington is now the RAF Regiment depot and home to the Joint CBRN Regiment.-RAF use:...

 in Suffolk, in the following weeks he underwent intensive training in the Sennybridge Training Area

Sennybridge Training Area (SENTA)

The Sennybridge Training Area consists of approximately 31,000 acres of Ministry of Defence freehold land and 6,000 acres of land leased from Forest Enterprise....

 in Wales, and was due to visit the RAF Mount Pleasant

RAF Mount Pleasant

RAF Mount Pleasant is a military base for the Royal Air Force in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. The facility is part of the British Forces South Atlantic Islands...

 base in the Falklands Islands followed by a deployment to the frontline in the War in Afghanistan

War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...

, in early 2012.

External links