IAN CRAWFORDFootballer Ian Crawford, who died at the age of 73 on 30 November, 2007, was described as a legend of his former club, Heart of Midlothian.With Hearts he won every honour going in Scottish football, with two League Championships, three Scottish League Cups and a Scottish Cup. During the club’s heyday in the 1950s he made 174 appearances and scored 79 goals, two of which were in the 1956 Cup Final against Celtic.He also had spells at West Ham, Scunthorpe and Peterborough and was unlucky to never represent his country.Ian Crawford was born on 14 July, 1934, in Edinburgh. He began his career at the city’s other famous club, Hibernian, at the age of 17, but was unable to make an impact. Two years later he moved to Hamilton Academical and within 19 appearances he had done enough to impress Hearts manager Tommy Walker.He signed in August 1954 and made his debut a month later, scoring Hearts’ only goal in a defeat to Cowdenbeath. He spent a period developing in the reserves before taking the place of the departed Johnny Urquhart at outside-left.Walker’ s Hearts side was rich with talent and experience, boasting the likes of Dave Mackay, John Cumming and the ‘terrible trio’ of forwards, Willie Bauld, Alfie Conn and Jimmy Wardhaugh. Also in the side was promising youngster Alex Young who would go on to success with Everton.Hearts' first honour came in 1955 when they beat Motherwell in the League Cup – it was the club’s first trophy for nearly 50 years. The following year they topped this success by not only beating, but out-playing Celtic at Hampden Park to take home the Scottish Cup. Mr Crawford finished off two impressive passing moves to score the first two goals and came close to a hat-trick in the second half.The following year Hearts continued this glorious form by winning the 1957/58 Scottish League Championship, with Mr Crawford a key member of the team, even if Bauld, Conn and Wardhaugh took most of the plaudits. The next year he scored the club’s first ever European goal against Standard Liege.Hearts went on to regain the League title from Rangers in the 1959/60 season and also won the League Cup two more times in ’59 and ’60. Despite his impressive record during this lucrative period, Mr Crawford was never called up by Scotland, gaining only a single Under-23 cap.In 1961 he signed for West Ham for £10,000 but despite playing consistently well, he left Upton Park before the Hammers’ successes of the 1960s. He signed for Scunthorpe in 1963 then joined Peterborough United the following year.He made 196 appearances and scored six goals for the Posh playing in his new position of full-back. He retired in 1967 aged 33 with a testimonial match graced by the likes of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Johnny Haynes, Terry Venables, Derek Dougan and Rodney Marsh.His time playing under Roy Greenwood at West Ham had inspired him to take up coaching and he worked first with Everton and Arsenal, before taking jobs in Finland, Norway, the Middle East and North America.Eventually, however, he settled back in Peterborough (with his Finnish wife Pikko). He had been previously married and had two sons from the first marriage. Towards the end of his lifehe had been visiting Hearts more frequently, attending dinners to celebrate the club’s Hall of Fame, and was planning to move back to Edinburgh.Alex Young paid tribute to his former team-mate: "I remember him playing for Hamilton Accies before he signed for Hearts. He was an excellent left-winger, and he was a very good player with Hearts and a great servant for the club. He had a terrific shot and was able to score from well outside the box."Dave Mackay said: "He was a lovely guy, and a good player for Hearts. You can tell a footballer as soon as he comes into the club, because of how he does at training, and it was obvious straight away when Ian joined Hearts that he was an excellent footballer."Campbell Ogilvie, director of operations at Hearts, said Mr Crawford was "rightly regarded as a legend by the supporters" and that his sudden death had come as a shock to everyone at the club.
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