Crozier Joe Image 1 Brentford 1937

Description

Coatbridge born goalkeeper Joe Crozier began his career at junior team Strathclyde in 1935 and moved to Scottish Division Two side East Fife in 1936. He earned a £1,000 move to English First Division side Brentford in May 1937, replacing fellow Scottish goalkeeper Jim Mathieson and making his Football League debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers that September. Crozier thereafter missed only one game through to the suspension of peacetime football and made 226 appearances for the Bees either side of the Second World War, missing only 3 games in the 3 seasons after the War. Having made the majority of his Brentford appearances in the club’s only spell in the English top-flight, Crozier has been described as the club’s best ever goalkeeper. As a testament to his longevity, Crozier made 114 of his 200 League appearances consecutively being ever present in the seasons either side of the War. During the War years, Crozier played as a guest at Hibernian and Airdrieonians. Crozier won three unofficial caps for Scotland in three wartime internationals versus England in 1943 and 1944. He conceded 16 goals in three defeats. The final match at Hampden Park in April 1944 was witnessed by a wartime record 133,000 crowd. He departed Brentford in 1949 and saw out his career with spells at non-league sides Chelmsford City, joining Kidderminster Harriers in 1951 and Ashford Town in 1953.