Craig Clay

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Craig Clay
Clay playing for York City in 2013
Personal information
Full name Craig William Clay[1]
Date of birth (1992-05-05) 5 May 1992 (age 34)[2]
Place of birth Nottingham, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[3]
Position Central midfielder[4]
Team information
Current team
 Kelty Hearts
Number 15
Youth career
2008–2010 Chesterfield
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2013 Chesterfield 27 (1)
2010 → Barrow (loan) 1 (0)
2012 → Alfreton Town (loan) 4 (1)
2013–2014 York City 8 (0)
2014 FC Halifax Town 4 (0)
2014 Worksop Town 9 (0)
2014–2016 Grimsby Town 74 (5)
2016–2017 Motherwell 35 (1)
2017–2023 Leyton Orient 210 (6)
2023–2024 Sutton United 27 (1)
2024–2025 Dunfermline Athletic 18 (0)
2025– Kelty Hearts 7 (0)
International career
2016 England C 1 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 25 October 2025 (UTC)

Craig William Clay (born 5 May 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Scottish League One side Kelty Hearts as a centre-back or midfielder.

He has previously had spells as a professional for Chesterfield, York City, Grimsby Town and Motherwell before a four-year spell with Leyton Orient where he won several promotions and was voted the player of the year in 2019. He has also played semi-professionally for Barrow, Alfreton Town, FC Halifax Town and Worksop Town. In 2016 he was capped once by England C.

Club career

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Chesterfield

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Clay was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.[5] He started his career with Chesterfield's youth system in 2008 and was part of the team that won the Youth League.[6][7] He was named Chesterfield's Young Player of the Year for the 2008–09 season.[8] His first involvement with the first team came as an unused substitute in a League Two match against Torquay United on 16 January 2010.[9] He made the bench on a number occasions through the rest of 2009–10, but did not make an appearance.[9]

He signed a two-year professional contract with Chesterfield in June 2010.[10] He made his debut for the club on 18 September 2010, in a 3–0 home win over Cheltenham Town, replacing Mark Allott in the 85th minute.[11] On 2 October 2010, he scored his first professional goal with a 25-yard shot during stoppage time to earn a 5–5 draw at home to Crewe Alexandra.[11][12] On 28 October 2010, Clay joined Conference Premier club Barrow on a one-month loan with Chesterfield teammate Tendayi Darikwa.[13] His only appearance for Barrow came two days later, in a 5–0 defeat away to Rushden & Diamonds.[14] He made four appearances and scored one goal for Chesterfield in 2010–11,[11] in which the club was promoted to League One as League Two champions.[15]

Clay was loaned out by Chesterfield for a second time on 20 January 2012, joining Conference Premier club Alfreton Town on a one-month loan.[16][17] Four days later, he scored Alfreton's third goal in a 3–0 win away to Bath City on his debut with a shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 90th minute.[18][19] Clay finished the loan with one goal in four appearances.[20] He made one more appearance for Chesterfield before the end of 2011–12, which he finished with eight appearances[18] as the club was relegated to League Two in 22nd place.[21]

He signed a new one-year contract with Chesterfield in May 2012.[22] His only goal of 2012–13 came in a 6–1 win over League One team Hartlepool United in the FA Cup first round on 3 November 2012.[23] Clay had a double hernia operation in March 2013 and after returning made one more appearance before the end of the season, as an 89th-minute substitute in a 2–0 victory away to Barnet on 6 April.[23][24] He was released by Chesterfield on 29 April 2013[25] after making 23 appearances and scoring one goal in 2012–13.[23]

York City

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Clay playing for York City in 2013

Clay signed for League Two club York City on 17 May 2013 on a two-year contract.[26][27] He made his debut in a 1–0 home win over Northampton Town on 3 August 2013, in the first match of 2013–14.[28] Having made 10 appearances for York,[28] Clay left the club by mutual consent on 13 January 2014, along with Jamal Fyfield.[29]

FC Halifax Town and Worksop Town

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He signed for Conference Premier club FC Halifax Town on 16 January 2014 on a one-month contract[30][31] and made his debut two days later in a 1–1 home draw with Cambridge United.[20] After making four appearances for the club he was released on 24 February 2014.[32] Nearly a month later, Clay signed for Northern Premier League Premier Division club Worksop Town on 21 March 2014.[33] He made his debut the following day as an 84th-minute substitute for Shane Clarke in a 2–0 away win over Stafford Rangers.[34]

Grimsby Town

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Clay signed for Conference Premier club Grimsby Town on 28 July 2014 on a one-year contract, having spent the pre-season on trial.[35] On 15 May 2016, he started for Grimsby as they beat Forest Green Rovers 3–1 at Wembley Stadium in the 2016 National League play-off final.[36] This meant Grimsby were promoted to League Two, after a six-year absence from the Football League.[36] Clay was released when his contract expired at the end of the 2015–16 season.[37]

Motherwell

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Upon his release from Grimsby, Clay joined South African Premier Division club Bidvest Wits on trial.[38] Clay then joined Scottish Premiership club Motherwell on trial,[39] playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–0 victory over East Stirlingshire in the Scottish League Cup on 26 July 2016.[40] Clay made his league debut on 6 August 2016 in a 2–1 victory away to Kilmarnock,[41] before signing a two-year contract with the club on 10 August.[42] He scored his first goal for the club on 28 December 2016, in a 2–1 win away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.[43]

Leyton Orient

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Clay signed for newly relegated National League club Leyton Orient on 17 July 2017 on a two-year contract.[44] He went on to win both the National League and EFL League Two titles with the club over the 6 years he was with them. His contract was not renewed at the end of the 2022/23 season.

Sutton United

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On 30 June 2023, Clay signed for EFL League Two side Sutton United.[45]

Dunfermline Athletic

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Clay signed for Dunfermline Athletic of the Scottish second tier in September 2024.[46]

International career

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Clay made his debut for the England C national team as a substitute in their 2–0 away win over Ukraine under-20s in the International Challenge Trophy on 22 March 2016.[47]

Career statistics

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As of match played 2 April 2021
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[a] League Cup[b] Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Chesterfield 2009–10[48] League Two 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2010–11[11] League Two 3 1 0 0 0 0 1[c] 0 4 1
2011–12[18] League One 5 0 1 0 1 0 1[c] 0 8 0
2012–13[23] League Two 19 0 2 1 0 0 2[c] 0 23 1
Total 27 1 3 1 1 0 4 0 35 2
Barrow (loan) 2010–11[14] Conference Premier 1 0 — — — 1 0
Alfreton Town (loan) 2011–12[20] Conference Premier 4 1 — — 0 0 4 1
York City 2013–14[28] League Two 8 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 10 0
FC Halifax Town 2013–14[20] Conference Premier 4 0 — — — 4 0
Worksop Town 2013–14[49] NPL Premier Division 9 0 — — — 9 0
Grimsby Town 2014–15[20] Conference Premier 39 2 2 0 — 6[d] 0 47 2
2015–16[20] National League 35 3 4 0 — 5[e] 0 44 3
Total 74 5 6 0 — 11 0 91 5
Motherwell 2016–17[41] Scottish Premiership 35 1 1 0 3 0 — 39 1
2017–18[50] Scottish Premiership — — 0 0 — 0 0
Total 35 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 39 1
Leyton Orient 2017–18[20] National League 43 4 2 0 — 4[f] 0 49 4
2018–19[20] National League 43 0 0 0 — 5[f] 1 48 1
2019–20[51] League Two 35 0 1 0 1 0 2[c] 0 39 0
2020–21[52] League Two 31 1 1 0 1 0 3[c] 0 36 1
Total 152 5 4 0 2 0 14 1 172 6
Career total 314 13 15 1 7 0 29 1 365 15
  1. ^ Includes FA Cup, Scottish Cup
  2. ^ Includes League Cup, Scottish League Cup
  3. ^ a b c d e Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
  4. ^ Three appearances in FA Trophy, three in Conference Premier play-offs
  5. ^ Three appearances in FA Trophy, two in National League play-offs
  6. ^ a b Appearances in FA Trophy

Honours

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Grimsby Town

Leyton Orient

Individual

References

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  • Profile at the Leyton Orient F.C. website
  • Craig Clay at SoccerbaseLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).


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