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Ian Crook
Personal information
Full name	Ian Stuart Crook
Date of birth	18 January 1963 (1963-01-18) (age 46)
Place of birth	Romford, England
Playing position	Midfield
Youth career
1976–1980	Tottenham Hotspur F.C
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1980–1986 1986–1997 1997–1998 1998–2000	Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Norwich City Sanfrecce Hiroshima Northern Spirit F.C. Total	039 (1) 418 (24) 031 (3) 034 (6) 522 (34)
National team
1989–1994	England B	003 (0)
Teams managed
1999–2001 2001–2004 2004 2004 2005–2006 2007–2008 2008 2009–present	Northern Spirit F.C. (Asst.) Newcastle Jets American Samoa Australia national under-20 football team (Asst.) Sydney F.C. (Asst.) Avispa Fukuoka (Asst.) Newcastle Jets (Technical Director) Norwich City F.C. (First Team Coach)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Ian Stuart Crook, (born January 18, 1963 in Romford, England) is a former professional footballer who began his career with Tottenham Hotspur before making 418 appearances for Norwich City. He was an England B international. As of 21 January 2009, Crook is first team coach at Norwich City.

Club career

Chippy began his football career at Tottenham Hotspur F.C. signing with the club as a schoolboy in 1976. In 1980 Ian made his debut against Liverpool and stayed with the North London club for another six years. During that six years Ian found it difficult to break into the first team, as his position was taken by Glenn Hoddle and Ossie Ardiles. He would however receive a UEFA Cup Medal in 1984 for his part in the semi-final against Hajduk Split.

In 1986 Ian would move to Norwich City for £80 000, which would work out at as one of the best bargain buys for the club. Crook was at the hub of the most successful team in Norwich's history. During his eleven seasons at the club, he helped them to a series of top five finishes in England's top division and playing in the club's UEFA Cup run. He was a midfielder noted for his passing ability and accuracy from set-pieces. Many experts in the game believe that had Crook played for a so called bigger club, he would have played for the full England team. In a 2001 poll for Four Four Two magazine, Crook was voted as one of the best players never to have played for England.

He famously agreed to leave Norwich to join their fierce rivals Ipswich Town F.C. at the end of the 1995-96 season, even posing for photos with his new shirt, buying his children replica kits before changing his mind and re-signing for City days later. This was due to former Norwich manager Mike Walker taking over the helm at Carrow Road. Ipswich Town F.C. took it to court. The local newspaper Evening Star carried the headline "Get out of Town Crook and take that man Walker with you".

In 1997, he was signed by Eddie Thomson for Sanfrecce Hiroshima. He left the club in May 1998 and transferred to Northern Spirit FC.

In 2002, Norwich fans voted Crook into the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame. In September of the same year he played at Carrow Road in the club's centenary match against Harwich & Parkeston F.C.. Ian has always remained a fans favourite in Norwich, which was shown in 2008 when he was voted in the Greatest Ever Norwich City eleven.

Managerial career

He then played for and coached Northern Spirit FC in Australia before moving on to take his first managerial post at Newcastle Jets. In his first season in the 'Hunter region', Crook took the Jets from second bottom to second, which earned him NSL Coach of the year honours. Following his successful time in Newcastle, Crook took on the job of coaching the American Samoa national football team, a team which had never scored a goal in a competitive international fixture. In early 2004 he was then appointed assistant coach for the Australian U20s team, before joining Sydney F.C. the following November, under manager Pierre Littbarski, winning the A-League title and attending the World Club Championships in 2005. After the 04-05 season Littbarski left the club following a contract dispute, and Crook remained at the club for another six months.

During his work in Australia, he had been linked with a possible return to Norwich, notably in the close-season of 2006, when Martin Hunter was eventually appointed as coach in place of Steve Foley. Following the departure of Peter Grant from Norwich City in October 2007, Crook was again linked with the vacant manager's position.^[1]

It was reported on 5 January 2007 that Ian had accepted the assistant manager's role at Japanese second division side Avispa Fukuoka to be reunited with Littbarski, but the pair were dismissed in July 2008. He was subsequently linked with new A-League club North Queensland Thunder FC, but instead was recruited for a second spell as manager at the Newcastle Jets.^[2] On 21 January 2009 Crook was unveiled as first team coach for Norwich City alongside new manager and former team mate Bryan Gunn.

References

External links

• Norwich City profile