William Francis Crellin (born 30 June 2000) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Fleetwood Town

Born in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, Crellin moved on loan from

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester, more commonly known as FC United, is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home m ...

in August 2018, but was recalled early in September 2018. In July 2019 he was the subject of a failed transfer bid from

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club Everton. He moved on loan to

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

in August 2019. He signed on loan for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

in August 2020. His debut came on 5 September in Bolton's first match of the season, a 1–2 home defeat against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

in the first round of the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. On 28 September Crellin was defended by Bolton head coach Ian Evatt after being criticised for perceived errors in games. A month later however, Evatt criticised Crellin, stating that he needed to "man up" and that Bolton could not afford for their goalkeeper to keep making so many mistakes, after Crellin was at fault for two of Barrow's goals in a 3–3 draw and four days later scored an own goal in a 1–1 draw against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

. In the next match Crellin saved a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

to help Bolton beat Bradford City 1–0 and was voted

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

by the Bolton fans. Evatt praised Crellin for responding to the criticism by putting on the Man of the Match display. Crellin continued to make mistakes however and on 13 November he was dropped to the bench for Bolton's derby match against Salford City. He then spent the rest of the season as a back up goalkeeper, first to Matt Gilks, and then to both Gilks and January signing Lukas Jensen.

Everton

On 31 January 2022, Crellin joined Everton for an undisclosed fee on a two-and-a-half-year deal, linking up with their under-23 squad. On 20 September 2023, he signed a new contract until 2025. In August 2024 he moved on loan to

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

. On 9 June 2025, Everton announced that Crellin would be departing the club at the end of the month upon the expiration of his contract.

International career

Crellin has represented England at under-17 to under-20 youth levels. In October 2017, Crellin was included in the squad for the

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international association football, football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India from 6 to 28 Octo ...

. His only appearance in the tournament was a group stage match against

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. On 14 October 2019, Crellin made his

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s) or England Men's Elite Squad, represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the gov ...

debut against Czech Republic at

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

Career statistics

Honours

England U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crellin, Billy 2000 births Living people English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Fleetwood Town F.C. players F.C. United of Manchester players Chorley F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Everton F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Footballers from Blackpool Accrington Stanley F.C. players 21st-century English sportsmen