Ross McCrorie (born 18 March 1998) is a Scottish 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 ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

side

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

. McCrorie has previously played for Rangers, Ayr United,

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

. He has also captained the Scotland under-21 team.

Club career

Early careers and loans out

McCrorie, alongside his twin brother

Robby Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob or Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003. People Given name Robbie *Robbie Amell (born 19 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting ...

), worked his way through the Rangers

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

, becoming captain of their U20s side. McCrorie joined

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was ...

side Ayr United on loan in February 2016, playing fifteen times and scoring twice as Ayr won promotion. After signing a new contract in December 2016, at the same time as his brother, he joined his former coach at Rangers,

Ian Durrant Ian Durrant (born 29 October 1966) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who is currently a first team coach at East Kilbride. During his playing career, Durrant played as a midfielder for Rangers for 13 years and was part ...

, at

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

side

on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Rangers first breakthrough

McCrorie made his debut for the Rangers senior team in September 2017, when he replaced

Bruno Alves Bruno Eduardo Regufe Alves (; born 27 November 1981) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a central defender, currently being sporting director of Super League Greece club AEK Athens. He began and spent most of his professiona ...

in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

quarter-final against

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been mem ...

Firhill Stadium Firhill Stadium is a football and former rugby union, rugby league and greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland which has been the home of Partick Thistle since 1909. The stadium is commonly referred to as sim ...

, won 3–1 after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

. Following the match, manager

Pedro Caixinha Pedro Miguel Faria Caixinha (; born 15 November 1970) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager, currently in charge of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Red Bull Bragantino. He starte ...

praised McCrorie, stating that he was "going to be the future of this country, not only this club, as a centre-half. We are very glad to have him with us". Later in the same week he made his first start – also his

debut and maiden experience of the

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply e ...

derby – against Celtic at Ibrox. Rangers lost the match 2–0, but McCrorie's performance was reported favourably by the press and both Rangers and Celtic fans. McCrorie scored his first senior goal for Rangers with a header in the first half against Partick Thistle on 4 November 2017 at Ibrox; Rangers won the match 3–0. On 3 December he was deployed as a

in a fixture away to

, which his team won to overtake their opponents into second place in the table. On 28 December he signed a new four-year contract. After he scored an important goal in the second visit to Aberdeen in May 2018, McCrorie received praise from both the

Pittodrie Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they wer ...

boss Derek McInnes and the Rangers caretaker manager

Jimmy Nicholl James Michael Nicholl (born 28 December 1956) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played for several clubs, including Manchester United and Rangers. He was mainly a right-back but could also play in other defensive roles. N ...

for his overall performance and influence in bringing his team back into the match; the player himself dedicated the strike to his dying grandmother.

Loan to Portsmouth

In July 2019, McCrorie agreed a deal to move to English club

on loan for the 2019–20 season; it was reported that ''Pompey'' had an option to buy him outright, but this was refuted by Rangers manager

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, ...

a few days later. He made his competitive debut for Pompey on 3 August, a 1–0 defeat away at

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mov ...

, during which he was sent off in the 81st minute for a late challenge on Shrewsbury's

Donald Love Donald Alistair Love (born 2 December 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Morecambe. He began his professional career with Manchester United, but made just two senior appearances, and after a loan spell with Wi ...

Aberdeen

On 17 August 2020, McCrorie joined

, initially on a one-year loan due to short-term cash flow issues at his new club, with an obligation to buy for a reported fee of around £350,000. A clause in the deal meant he would not be eligible to play against his 'parent club' during the

2020–21 Scottish Premiership The 2020–21 Scottish Premiership was the eighth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football (the 124th edition overall of the top national league competition, not including one cancelled due to World War II). ...

campaign, although he would not return to Rangers before becoming a permanent Aberdeen signing. The deal was made permanent on 1 February 2021, ahead of schedule, as Scott Wright moved in the opposite direction.

International career

With his brother

, Scotland U16 won the

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Victory Shield had traditionally been competed for by the four Home Nations, but the Football ...

in 2013–14, and were selected for Scotland U17 in the 2015 UEFA European U-17 Championship McCrorie was named in the Scotland U19 squad for the elite round of the European Championships in March 2017 alongside

teammate Daniel Harvie. He had captained the side in the qualifying phase of the tournament. He also captained the Scotland U21 team on several occasions. Selected for the under-20 squad in the

2017 Toulon Tournament The 2017 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 45ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 45th edition of the Toulon Tournament. The tournament was named after Maurice Revello, who started the tournament in 1967 ...

. The team went on to claim the bronze medal. It was the nations first ever medal at the competition.

Career statistics

Honours

Ayr United *

Play-offs: 2015–16 Scotland U16 *

: 2013–14

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCrorie, Ross 1998 births Living people Scottish footballers Scottish twins Twin sportspeople Footballers from South Ayrshire Association football defenders Association football midfielders Scotland youth international footballers Dumbarton F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Ayr United F.C. players Scotland under-21 international footballers Outfield association footballers who played in goal Aberdeen F.C. players