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Rangers Academy graduate Robbie Crawford was proud to play a part in the club’s journey back to the top-flight and he’s now taking his first steps into coaching with Charleston Battery in America following his retirement.
The former Light Blues midfielder brought the curtain down on a successful 13-year playing career last January and he plays an important role on and off the pitch for his USL club.
He played 122 games for the South Carolina outfit and is thriving in a new position that involves assisting in training, matchday preparations, scouting and managing the team’s day-to-day sporting operations and logistics.
Robbie, who is 33 in March, joined Battery in 2020 after spells with Rangers, Raith Rovers, East Kilbride, FH in Iceland and FK Mariehamn in Finland and he is loving life across the Atlantic.
He spent around 15 years at Ibrox and was first spotted by Gers legend Davie Provan when he was a scout with the club.
Crawford progressed through the ranks at the Academy and was honoured to learn from icons like Walter Smith, Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant.
He made his debut against Brechin in the first match of the 2012/13 season and went on to play in Division Three, League One and the Championship for Rangers.
In a wide-ranging interview as he showed his support for The Rangers Youth Development Company – who have donated more than £12 million to the Academy so far – Robbie reflects on his time in Glasgow and life after leaving the Light Blues.
He recalled: “I was playing in the Greenock area when former Rangers defender David Provan was a scout for the club and he spotted me.
“There were coaching sessions on the astro pitch across the street from Ibrox and I first went there when I was 8.
“I guess they saw some potential in me and I joined the Academy and started working up through the age groups.
“It wasn’t smooth sailing all the way to the first-team, but thankfully I got there in the end.
“George Adams was the head of the Academy and then Jim Sinclair came in and Tommy Wilson and Craig Mulholland were also part of my development.
“I have a lot of good memories of my time there, a lot of foreign trips for youth tournaments and I met a lot of good people at the club.
“The training ground was also a great environment to learn. The experience is second to none.
“The coaches would always tell us how lucky we were to have it and they were right. I did try to take that on board and appreciate what I had.
“Even when you try and do that, after you leave, you do realise just how great you had it.
“I’m definitely grateful and I was appreciative of it at the time. I enjoyed my experiences.
“I never played for a club as big as Rangers again but the standards, work ethic and mentality to win definitely served me well for the rest of my career.
“You always want to play first-team football, of course, and it was a massive honour to be in the Rangers team.
“I got a little taste of it before we were put down to Division Three. I was in and around the first-team and just being around legends like Walter Smith gave me a taste of everything I always wanted.
“After administration it was pretty apparent to the younger guys that we’d be involved more than we maybe would have been otherwise and I got to make a lot of appearances and chipped in with a few goals.
“It was a difficult time for the club but I guess it’s quite an achievement to have played that much and be part of the club history.
“It’s nice to look back on.
“I made my competitive debut against Brechin in the Challenge Cup and that’s obviously an iconic game in the club’s history because it was the start of the journey back.
“I remember my parents were there and one of my best friends growing up was there and it was brilliant to play.
“Getting on was a great experience and we got the win too although it wasn’t easy. I didn’t think about it too much at the time as I was just focusing on trying to do well and impress the coaches, the team and the fans.
“That season, it was important just to win and get promotion and we did that.
“It was still Rangers and you were under pressure to win at all costs. It was kind of surreal because we still had 50,000 fans at Ibrox and away games were always sold out.
“It was a contrast to the league we were in but there was still an intensity to win.
“You had to accept that the standards were still high and that’s the way it should have been. We wouldn’t have had it any other way and it was a good learning environment for us, as young guys, to kind of get thrown in to the deep end a little bit and deal with it.
“I was always striving for more and I felt part of the squad.
“It was a great experience but you just had to win. Nothing else mattered.
“I really enjoyed it and the experience of playing at quite a young age at such a big club served me well for the rest of my career.
“In an ideal world it would have been great to work with legends like Walter Smith, Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant under different circumstances in a more stable environment.
“But even then, I still got a taste of what they were like, how they operated and the standards they set.
“They were all big characters and good to be around.
“My journey to the first-team was an interesting one as I wasn’t really playing for under 17s when I was 16 and 17.
“But the coaches watched one Academy training session and the next day I was training with the first-team.
“I always had massive belief in my ability so I was excited to go round and train with them.
“I was a little bit quieter and reserved and it was more of an adjustment, but I think I thrived on the training pitch and didn’t feel out of place.
“I always worked as hard as I could and made sure I was ready for anything.
“A lot of young players were playing when a lot of the senior guys left but we still had Lee McCulloch, Lee Wallace and Neil Alexander at the club.
“I think it was a good blend of youth and experience. At times it clicked and at times it was a struggle, but that was just the reality of where the club was at that time, I think.
“I was proud to play for Rangers and leaving is never something you can envision or ever want to happen.
“I couldn’t really see myself anywhere else, especially not in Scotland.
“Stuart McCall came in and played me in the Championship and I liked his way of working and his coaching.
“He didn’t get the job full-time and Mark Warburton came in and made it clear I wasn’t part of his plans. It was very disappointing not to have had more of a chance under him but I wasn’t keen on just hanging around so it was time to move on.
“I had a couple of trials with teams in England but it just didn’t work out for one reason or another. I had a short stint at Raith Rovers that didn’t work out and after 15 years at Rangers it was hard to really see myself playing anywhere else in Scotland.
“I was a bit disillusioned with the game at times and I ended up getting in contact with an agent who sent me over to a club in Iceland.
“Then Steven Lennon, who was also at Rangers, got in touch with me as he was playing for FH in Iceland and I ended up there after a trial.
“He’s a bit of a goalscoring hero there, a real legend at the club.
“FH gave me a two-year deal and I enjoyed my time there. After that I moved to Finland then on to Charleston Battery.
“Moving to America appealed to me and I just had the sense that the league was growing and the game was growing.
“I had a trial and signed and was ready to make the most of it then COVID hit about two months after that.
“It really halted the momentum I was feeling at that time after a good year in Finland and it was obviously a difficult time for everyone, not just players.
“We had a good few months of uncertainty and not knowing what was happening but the club were amazing and really looked after me.
“It has been an amazing move for me and Charleston is a great place to be.
“I enjoyed playing for the club and once I retired they spoke to me about a new role – which is like a hybrid role of coaching and the operations side of the club.
“I shadowed the club President a little bit and I also work with the team on the pitch every day. It was just too good an opportunity to turn down.
“It has been an adjustment from playing to coaching but there has been a lot of positives and it has been exciting seeing how the game works from a whole new perspective.
“When I was a player, I was always taking notes on what coaches would say or things I would maybe do differently.
“I’m not a big shouter. I’m more of a thinker and I’ve had a lot of experiences in my youth and professional career so I have a lot to pass on to players.
“I’m very grateful to Charleston Battery for giving me this opportunity. A lot of people say how grateful they are to their first manager for giving them their debuts and it’s similar here.
“This is my first step into a post-playing career and they must have seen potential in me to give me such an important role within the club.
“I’ve definitely landed on my feet. It’s such a nice place to live, it’s a good club and it’s a really exciting time to be here.
“But I still look out for Rangers’ results and I can look back at my time at the club with pride. I have so many good memories.”
Robbie’s career development was assisted by annual RYDC donations to the Rangers Academy and more than £12 million has already been provided.
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