Leanne Crichton

Leanne Crichton
Crichton playing for Scotland in 2014
Personal information
Date of birth (1987-08-06) 6 August 1987
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Rangers (head coach)
Youth career
Cumbernauld Cosmos
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Whitehill Welfare/Edinburgh Ladies
2007 Glasgow City
2007–2011 Celtic
2011–2012 Hibernian 18 (11)
2012–2014 Glasgow City 36+ (4+)
2015–2017 Notts County 28 (0)
2017–2021 Glasgow City 34 (8)
2021–2023 Motherwell 28 (2)
International career‡
2006–2020 Scotland[1] 72 (3)
Managerial career
2021–2024 Motherwell (Assistant)
2024–2025 Glasgow City (Assistant)
2025– Rangers
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 1 May 2023
‡ National team caps and goals as of 8 February 2021

Leanne Crichton (born 6 August 1987) is a Scottish football coach, manager of Rangers and media pundit for BBC Scotland.

A retired midfielder, she played for Hibernian, Celtic, Whitehill Welfare/Edinburgh Ladies, Glasgow City (three spells) and Motherwell in Scotland and for Notts County in the English FA WSL, and appeared 72 times for the Scotland national team.

Playing career

Club

Crichton started her career with Cumbernauld Cosmos before moving to Whitehill Welfare.[2][3] She had a short spell with Glasgow City in 2007 before moving on to Celtic later the same year, scoring a penalty on her debut against then reigning league champions Hibernian.[4][5] Crichton went on to join Hibernian in 2011 for one season before returning for her second spell at Glasgow City in January 2012.[6][7]

After winning a clean sweep of domestic honours with City in 2012, including a league campaign in which the club finished undefeated,[8][9] Crichton made her bow in the UEFA Women's Champions League against ŽNK Osijek in the qualifying round of the 2012–13 competition. She went on to play in all five matches in City's run to the round of 32.[10]

Crichton signed for FA WSL side Notts County in January 2015.[11] In April 2017, she joined Glasgow City for a third spell with the club.[12] She moved to Motherwell in 2021 to combine a playing and coaching role. She retired from playing in 2023 but remained as a coach at Motherwell for another year.

International

Crichton was part of Tony Gervaise's Scotland youth squad which qualified for the finals of the 2005 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in Hungary.[2][3] While playing for the Edinburgh Ladies, she earned her first call up to the senior Scotland women's squad in August 2006 and made her debut in a challenge match against Belgium the following month.[13][14]

National coach Anna Signeul recalled Crichton for Scotland's two challenge matches against the United States in February 2013.[15] Crichton helped Scotland qualify for Euro 2017 and the 2019 World Cup, which was their first appearances in those major tournaments.[16] She announcement her retirement from international football in January 2021, having made 72 international appearances in total.[16]

International goals

Results list Scotland's goal tally first.[1]
# Date Venue Opponent Result Competition Scored
1 1 June 2013 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík  Iceland 3–2 Friendly 1
2 5 April 2014 Fir Park, Motherwell  Poland 2–0 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qual. 1
3 13 September 2014 Fir Park, Motherwell  Faroe Islands 9–0 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qual. 1

Managerial career

Motherwell & Glasgow City (Assistant)

Crichton moved to Motherwell in 2021 to combine a playing and coaching role.[17][18] She left Motherwell in November 2024 to become assistant to Leanne Ross at Glasgow City following the departure of Scott Booth.[19]

Rangers

On 4 August 2025, Crichton made her first step into management as head coach of Rangers, signing a 3 year contract. She succeeded Jo Potter.[20]

Managerial statistics

As of 4 August 2025

Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win %
Rangers Scotland 4 August 2025 present 0 0 0 0 !—
Total 0 0 0 0 !—

Honours

Celtic

Hibernian

  • Scottish Women’s Premier League Cup: 2011

Glasgow City

References

  1. ^ a b "Leanne Crichton – Women's A Squad". Scottish FA. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Advance guard for Moldova". Scottish FA. 22 September 2004. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Gervaise predicts Scottish success". UEFA. 17 July 2005. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  4. ^ "City top table on day one". Spartans WFC. 12 August 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  5. ^ Kayleigh Cameron (25 November 2007). "Celtic Ladies stun champions with victory". Spartans WFC. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  6. ^ "Liverpool give Scots trio debuts". Shekicks.net. 1 March 2011. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  7. ^ Katy McCloskey (4 January 2012). "New year movements for Glasgow City Ladies". stv Glasgow. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  8. ^ Glasgow City lift the Scottish Cup to complete the treble, Glasgow City FC, 11 November 2012
  9. ^ Glasgow City FC raise a treble with Scottish Cup triumph, Daily Record, 12 November 2012
  10. ^ "Leanne Crichton". UEFA. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  11. ^ "Leanne Crichton: Notts County Ladies sign Scotland midfielder". BBC Sport. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  12. ^ "Glasgow City sign Leanne Crichton". Glasgow City FC. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  13. ^ "Pair given their chance". The Herald. 1 August 2006. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  14. ^ "Women's Football". The Pink. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  15. ^ "Women's squad to face USA". Scottish FA. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  16. ^ a b "Scotland: Midfielder Leanne Crichton retires after 72 caps". BBC Sport. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  17. ^ Leanne Crichton Archived 15 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Motherwell F.C.; retrieved 3 May 2022
  18. ^ Motherwell benefitting from Leanne Crichton quality says boss, Daily Record, 19 October 2021
  19. ^ Crichton to return to Glasgow City as assistant coach, BBC Sport, 2 November 2024
  20. ^ "What can Rangers expect under new head coach Leanne Crichton?". BBC Sport. 4 August 2025. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leanne Crichton.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.