Craig Dell Maskell (born 10 April 1968) is an English football coach and former

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 ...

. As a player, he was a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

who notably played in the

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 ...

for

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

, Brighton & Hove Albion and Leyton Orient, later playing at non-league level for Happy Valley, Hampton & Richmond Borough and Aylesbury United. He would both play and manage Staines Town from 2003 until 2012.

Playing career

Craig Maskell began his professional football career at

where he'd previously signed as an apprentice. After playing a handful of games for the club, he was loaned to

before his eventual transfer to

. A prolific goalscorer for the team, Maskell was later included in ''The Fans' Favourites'' and nominated by avid fan David Ward, a book which lists the 100 Huddersfield Town players voted by the fans as their favourite players at the time of their centennial in 2008. A spell at

was followed by his move to

, under

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and TNT Sports. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...

; he scored at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

in the 1993 Division One Play-off Final to promote Swindon to the

. Following a poor season with the club in 1993–94, when they were relegated from the Premier League with only five wins all season, he was sold back to Southampton for £250,000, but his return to The Dell was not a success. He managed 17 Premier League appearances in two seasons, scoring just once, and unable to break up the three-man attack of Matthew Le Tissier,

Neil Shipperley Neil Jason Shipperley (born 30 October 1974) is an English football manager and former professional player who played as a forward. He notably played in the Premier League for Chelsea, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Shef ...

and Gordon Watson. He also faced competition for a place on the bench from the likes of Ronnie Ekelund and

Neil Heaney Neil Andrew Heaney (born 3 November 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. Heaney began his career with top-flight club Arsenal before making 61 appearances in the Premier League for Southampton. He played i ...

. He then played for

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

and Hong Kong teams Happy Valley AA before arriving at Leyton Orient. His role at Brighton was distinguished by a shot that curled around the keeper and hit the post for Robbie Reinelt to score the rebound goal against Hereford that kept the Albion in the Football League. His 18 months at Orient ended when, as part of the losing team in the 1999 Division Three play-off final, he walked off the pitch at the end of the game vowing never to play for the team again. "I turned to one of my team-mates and said 'that's enough', I'd spent too much time away from my family and too little time on the pitch at Orient." Leyton Orient released him at the start of the 1999–00 season and he became assistant coach under manager Steve Cordery at Hampton & Richmond Borough. Maskell was leading goalscorer for the team at the end of the 1999–00 season and had helped the Isthmian League Premier Division club to reach the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

for the first time. Maskell and Cordery moved to

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...

in Summer 2002 and he was again amongst the Premier Division's top marksmen with 26 league and cup goals for the team. The pair took over at Staines Town in 2003, where they continued to play and manage the team until April 2012.

Personal life

Maskell became a sports teacher at Southgate College during his time in non-league. He later returned to

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

to teach sports at Eastleigh College.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Player Profile
– Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk

– Staines Town {{DEFAULTSORT:Maskell, Craig Living people 1968 births Footballers from Aldershot Men's association football forwards English men's footballers Premier League players English Football League players Hong Kong First Division League players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Hampton & Richmond Borough F.C. players Happy Valley AA players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Reading F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Staines Town F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Aylesbury United F.C. players English expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong English expatriate men's footballers