William John Crayston (9 October 1910 – 26 December 1992) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager.

Playing career

Born in

Grange-over-Sands Grange-over-Sands is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the north side of Morecambe Bay in Cumbria, England, a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park. In the United Kingdom Census 201 ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, Crayston played for local school sides and Ulverston Town before moving to

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

Barrow in 1928. He spent two seasons there before moving to

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

Bradford (Park Avenue) Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

, where he developed into a strong and aerially powerful

right-half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Despite breaking both his wrist and leg in 1933–34, Crayston was signed by

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

champions

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in 1934 as a replacement for Charlie Jones. He scored on his competitive debut in an 8–1 thrashing of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 1 September 1934 and became a regular in the Arsenal side straight away, largely pushing

Frank Hill Frank Robert Hill (21 May 1906 – 28 August 1993) was a Scottish football player and manager. Playing career Forfar and Aberdeen Hill was born in Forfar and started his career at Forfar Athletic, joining the club in 1924. He moved to Aberdee ...

out of the right-half spot. With Arsenal he won the League championship in 1934–35 and 1937–38, and 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 ...

in 1935–36. He also won the

1938 FA Charity Shield The 1938 FA Charity Shield was the 25th Charity Shield, an annual English football match played between the winners of the previous season's Football League and FA Cup competitions. The match, held at Highbury on 26 September 1938, was contested ...

. During this time, Crayston also became an

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

international; he made his debut in a 3–1 win against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on 4 December 1935, and in all won eight caps for his country between 1935 and 1937, scoring one goal. His final cap came in a 5–4 win against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

on 1 December 1937.

Coaching and managerial career

Like many of his contemporaries, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

robbed Crayston of what should have been the peak of his career; he joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

whilst still playing irregular wartime football. However, a serious knee injury in a wartime match against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

in 1943 forced Crayston to retire from playing. He played 207 matches in total (168 league matches), scoring 17 goals (16 league goals). After his premature retirement and demobbing from the RAF, Crayston moved into coaching, and in June 1947 he became assistant to new Arsenal manager Tom Whittaker. After Whittaker's death in 1956, Crayston became caretaker manager on 24 October 1956 and permanent manager on 21 December 1956. However, his

stewardship Stewardship is a practice committed to ethical value that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment and nature, economics, health, places, property, information ...

of the team was brief and unsuccessful; unable to bring any new players in, the team started to decline. In 1957–58 Arsenal slipped to 12th in the League (their worst position for 38 years) and faced a humiliating FA Cup defeat at the hands of

Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. Disillusioned, in May 1958 he resigned as Arsenal manager, and took up the reins at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

a couple of months later, holding the post until his retirement from the game in 1961. He died in 1992, at the age of 82.

References

;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crayston, Jack 1910 births 1992 deaths People from Grange-over-Sands English men's footballers England men's international footballers England men's wartime international footballers Men's association football wing halves Ulverston Town F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players English football managers Arsenal F.C. managers Doncaster Rovers F.C. managers Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force airmen Military personnel from Cumbria