Charlie Craig

Charles Thomson Craig (11 July 1874 – 11 January 1933) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a full-back. He played for both Dundee and West Ham United during their inaugural seasons, and later played in the Football League for Nottingham Forest and Bradford Park Avenue.

Career Craig was born in Dundee and played locally for Dundee Our Boys, where he was part of the team that reached the Dundee Charity Cup Final in 1892–93, before they merged with Dundee East End to form Dundee F.C. He played for the new club for a season, making 13 appearances including in friendlies, before moving to Dundee Wanderers, where he made eight appearances. He then returned to Dundee for another four seasons but only rarely featured for the first team, before moving to the East End of London, first joining Silvertown, then Southern League First Division club Thames Ironworks, where he played in the club's final season before they were wound up and reformed as West Ham United.

Thames Ironworks in 1899. Craig shown back row, fifth from left Craig made his debut for the Ironworks in an FA Cup third qualifying round match against Dartford on 28 October 1899. During his initial season with the club, he made 18 Southern League appearances, including an end-of-season test match against Fulham, as well as six appearances in the Thames & Medway Combination and four in the FA Cup. He remained at the club for two seasons, making 60 appearances in league and cup.

Nottingham Forest during their tour of Argentina and Uruguay. Craig shown back row, fifth from left He moved on to Football League First Division club Nottingham Forest in 1902, where he spent periods partnering both James Iremonger and Walter Dudley, and played in both full-back positions. Towards the end of his first season with the club, he came into consideration for the Scotland national team when he appeared in the Home Scots v Anglo-Scots annual trial match (he had also taken part in a trial 12 years earlier in his amateur days with Dundee Our Boys). In 1905, he travelled with Forest on their tour of Argentina and Uruguay. In all, he spent five seasons and made 136 League appearances at Forest.