Craig Dawson

Craig Dawson (born 6 May 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays for Watford as a defender. He has previously played for Radcliffe Borough, Bolton Wanderers, Rochdale and West Bromwich Albion.

Craig Dawson
Dawson playing for Bolton Wanderers in 2013
Personal information
Full name Craig Dawson[1]
Date of birth (1990-05-06) 6 May 1990[1]
Place of birth Rochdale, England[2]
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Watford
Number 4
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 Radcliffe Borough
2009–2010 Rochdale 46 (10)
2010–2019 West Bromwich Albion 194 (14)
2010–2011 → Rochdale (loan) 41 (9)
2013 → Bolton Wanderers (loan) 16 (4)
2019– Watford 21 (1)
National team
2011–2013 England U21 15 (6)
2012 Great Britain 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:43, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Radcliffe Borough

Prior to becoming a professional footballer, Dawson worked as a glass collector at his local pub, while playing for a local team called Rochdale St Clements.[3] He started his football career at Northern Premier League side Radcliffe Borough in the middle of the 2007–08 season, and became a first team regular after just a few games. In the two seasons he was at the club he made 95 appearances and scored 15 goals.[4] Dawson signed for his local club Rochdale in February 2009 on a two-year contract.[5] Although a Rochdale player, Dawson stayed at Radcliffe on loan until the end of the season.[6] In the season he left, he was voted the Player of the season by Radcliffe.[6] In 2017 Craig was included in the Northern Premier League's Greatest 100 Players for the 50th Anniversary of the league, ranking in 14th overall [7]

Rochdale

Dawson made his debut for Rochdale reserves, scoring a header from a corner against Manchester City. Dawson was set to make his debut in the second half of the 2008–09 season; however, was set back by injury. Dawson finally got his Rochdale debut on 8 August by starting in the League Two clash with Port Vale at Vale Park. The match ended in a 1–1 draw. Dawson's second game was at Hillsborough Stadium in the League Cup against Sheffield Wednesday. Despite conceding three goals, Rochdale fans gave Dawson rave reviews and named him man of the match.

He scored 10 goals in all competitions during the 2009–10 season and won a place in the League Two PFA Team of the Year.

West Bromwich Albion

On 31 August 2010, Dawson signed for Premier League club West Bromwich Albion for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract. He made his competitive Baggies debut in a 4–1 League Cup win at Bournemouth in August 2011 and the following day was called up into the England Under-21s squad by Stuart Pearce, who watched him from the stands at the Seward Stadium. On Tuesday 26 July 2011, Craig Dawson was rewarded with a new-and improved Albion contract on 21 February 2012. The centre-half penned a three-and-a-half-year deal to June 2015, plus a further year's option in the club's favour.[8] Dawson made his first Premier League start on Saturday 17 September 2011, away from home against Swansea City as a fill-in central defender for the suspended Gabriel Tamaş in a disappointing 3–0 defeat. He re-appeared in the starting eleven for the game against Manchester City in which West Brom went on to lose 4–0. Again, Dawson appeared in the next league game against Queens Park Rangers, West Brom went on to win the game 1–0. On 28 September 2014, Dawson scored his first Premier League goal for West Brom in a 4–0 home win against Burnley He scored his next goal of the season in a 1–2 loss to West Ham United on 2 December 2014.[9]

After the arrival of new Albion manager Tony Pulis at the start of 2015, Dawson became a regular feature in the starting lineup. While not chipping in with any more goals that season, Dawson played his part in the team achieving survival.[10] During the 2015/16 season Dawson was again a regular starter. His first goal of the season came in a 2–3 loss to Everton on 28 September 2015.[11] His next goal came in a 2–2 draw away at Liverpool on 13 December 2015.[12] On 18 February 2016 he signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until the summer 2018.[13] Two weeks after signing his contract extension he scored a goal in a 3–2 home win against Crystal Palace. He was also involved in the winning goal for Saido Berahino.[14] On 25 April 2016 he became the fourth Premier League player of the season to score an own goal and a goal in the same match in a 1–1 draw away to Tottenham.[15]

On 18 March 2017, he scored two headers from corners, as West Brom defeated Arsenal 3–1 in the Premier League, he was named man of the match.[16]

Loan to Rochdale

Immediately after signing for West Brom, he was loaned back to Rochdale for the remainder of the 2010–11 season.[8]

Loan to Bolton Wanderers

On 23 January 2013, despite interest from Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest, championship club Bolton Wanderers won the race to sign Dawson on loan for the rest of the season. On 23 February, Dawson scored twice in a 4–1 win against Hull City.[17] Just three days later on 26 February, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 home win against Peterborough United.[18] He scored for the third successive match on 2 March, scoring the winning goal in a 3–2 win against Barnsley.[19]

Watford

On 1 July 2019, Dawson signed for Premier League club Watford for an undisclosed fee on a four-year contract.[20]

Dawson scored his first goal for the club on 20 June 2020, An overhead kick against Leicester City.[21]

International career
Dawson (wearing No.6) playing for Team GB, before a penalty shoot-out against South Korea at London 2012.

England Under-21s

Dawson scored two goals on his England under-21 debut against Azerbaijan on 1 September 2011.[22] He played 15 matches for England U21s, scoring six goals.

Great Britain Olympic team

On 2 July 2012, Dawson was selected by Stuart Pearce for the 2012 Great Britain Olympic football team.[23] He featured in the 1–0 victory over Uruguay as a last minute substitution for goalscorer Daniel Sturridge. He also featured in the Olympic quarter-final against South Korea, coming on as a substitute for an injured Micah Richards, and scoring in the penalty shoot-out.

Career statistics
As of match played 20 June 2020[24]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Rochdale 2009–10[25] League Two 42921101[lower-alpha 1]14611
2010–11[26] League One 45101120004811
Total 87193230119422
West Bromwich Albion 2011–12[27] Premier League 802020—120
2012–13[28] Premier League 101020—40
2013–14[29] Premier League 1201020—150
2014–15[30] Premier League 2924020—352
2015–16[31] Premier League 3843020—434
2016–17[32] Premier League 37 4 1 0 1 0 — 39 4
2017–18[33] Premier League 28 2 2 0 2 0 — 32 2
2018–19[34] Championship 41 2 1 0 1 0 2[lower-alpha 2] 1 45 3
Total 194141501402122515
Bolton Wanderers (loan) 2012–13[28] Championship 164———164
Watford 2019–20[35] Premier League 2111000—221
Career total 318381921703235742
Notes
  1. Appearance in Football League Trophy
  2. Appearances in Championship play-offs

References
  1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Mainstream Publishing. p. 111. ISBN 9781845966010.
  2. "Craig Dawson". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  3. Higginson, Marc (19 July 2012). "London 2012: Craig Dawson's rise to Team GB from glass collector". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  4. "Club history". Radcliffe Borough F.C. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  5. "Rochdale capture defender Dawson". BBC Sport. 23 February 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  6. "West Brom sign Craig Dawson – and then send him out on loan". Birmingham Mail. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  7. League, The Northern Premier (16 June 2018). "The Greatest 100 Players in the #EvostikLeague #NPL50 11-15pic.twitter.com/17BMRUdPjI".
  8. "West Brom snap up defender Craig Dawson". BBC Sport. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  9. "West Bromwich Albion 1–2 West Ham United". BBC Sport. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  10. "West Bromwich Albion – the 2014–15 season report card". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  11. "West Bromwich Albion 2–3 Everton". BBC Sport. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  12. "Liverpool 2–2 West Bromwich Albion". BBC Sport. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  13. "Craig Dawson: West Bromwich Albion defender signs new deal until 2018". BBC Sport. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  14. "West Bromwich Albion 3–2 Crystal Palace". BBC Sport. 27 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  15. "Tottenham Hotspur 1–1 West Bromwich Albion". BBC Sport. 25 April 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  16. "West Bromwich Albion 3–1 Arsenal". BBC Sport. 18 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. "Bolton 1–0 Peterborough" BBC Sport. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  19. "Barnsley 2–3 Bolton" BBC Sport. 2 March 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  20. "Craig Dawson signs for Watford from West Brom" RTE Sport. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  21. Goodwill, Jake (20 June 2020). "Watford and Leicester share the points after two late goals cancel each other out". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  22. Bradbury, Jamie (1 September 2011). "England hit Azeris for six". The Football Association. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  23. "Pearce names squad". Sky Sport. 2 July 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  24. "Craig Dawson". Soccerbase. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  25. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  26. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  27. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  28. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  29. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  30. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  31. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  32. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  33. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  34. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  35. "Games played by Craig Dawson in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
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