Craig Slater

Craig Slater (born 26 April 1994) is a Scottish professional football player and coach. He plays as a midfielder for Arbroath in Scottish Championship, and is also first team coach at Scottish Women's Premier League team Motherwell.

Craig Slater
Personal information
Date of birth (1994-04-26) 26 April 1994[1]
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Arbroath (player)
Motherwell Women (first team coach)
Number 6
Youth career
2000–2012 St Mirren
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2016 Kilmarnock 76 (7)
2016–2018 Colchester United 34 (3)
2018 → Dundee United (loan) 7 (1)
2018–2020 Partick Thistle 36 (2)
2020–2021 Queen's Park 9 (2)
2021–2023 Forfar Athletic 65 (9)
2023– Arbroath 0 (0)
International career‡
2009 Scotland U16 4 (0)
2009–2011 Scotland U17 10 (1)
2013 Scotland U19 1 (0)
2014–2016 Scotland U21 10 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 01:58, 4 June 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10:08, 8 January 2017 (UTC)

Slater began his career at St Mirren but left in 2012 to join Kilmarnock. He made his professional debut in December 2012 and went on to spend four years at the club, making 85 appearances. He left in 2016 to join English League Two club Colchester United. After a loan spell with Dundee United he moved to Partick Thistle in 2018 and then Queen's Park in 2020 before joining Forfar Athletic in 2021. In May 2023, he signed for Arbroath on a free.

Slater has represented Scotland at under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels.

Club career

Born in Glasgow,[2] Slater played for the youth teams at St Mirren "since the age of five or six". On leaving school in 2010 at the age of 16, he signed professional terms and a two-year contract. However, he said "going into training every day just wasn't enjoyable any more and I felt as if I wasn't going anywhere with the club" and asked to have his contract terminated in 2012. He briefly trained with Rangers but he left with the club suffering financial difficulty, before joining Kilmarnock.[3]

Kilmarnock

Slater made his professional debut for Kilmarnock on 29 December 2012, in an away match against Motherwell coming on as a substitute in a 2–2 draw.[4] He made one further appearance for Killie during the 2012–13 season, starting in their 3–1 home defeat by Hibernian on 15 May 2013.[5]

In the 2013–14 season, after a substitute appearance on the opening day of the season, Slater began to establish himself in the first-team during the Autumn of 2013, and in February 2014, he was named as the SPFL Young Player of the Month for January.[6] He scored his first career goal on 29 March when he scored the winning goal in injury time in Kilmarnock's 2–1 win away to Motherwell.[7] He ended the season having made 22 league appearances and one cup appearance.[8]

Slater scored on the opening day of the 2014–15 season in the 1–1 draw with Dundee.[9] He received his first red card on 1 January 2015 against his former employers St Mirren. He had just converted a penalty kick to put Kilmarnock 2–0 up, but he was shown a second yellow card after running to celebrate with supporters.[10] He scored two more goals to bring his tally to four for the season in his 27 appearances.[11]

Slater scored in his first game of the season for the second successive season with a goal in Kilmarnock's 4–1 League Cup win against Berwick Rangers on 25 August 2015.[12] He scored four goals in 32 appearances.[13] After helping his side to Scottish Premiership survival by beating Falkirk 4–1 on aggregate, on 23 May 2016, Slater announced that he was to leave Kilmarnock.[14] He had rejected the offer of a new deal.[15]

Colchester United

On 7 July 2016, Slater joined English League Two club Colchester United, signing a two-year contract.[16] He made his debut for Colchester on 6 August in their 1–1 draw with Hartlepool United at Victoria Park on the opening day of the season.[17] He scored his first Colchester goal with a free kick in their 2–1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on 29 October.[18] He was ruled out for the remainder of the 2016–17 season in March 2017 following an operation for a double hernia and groin problems, having scored three goals in 32 games in all competitions.[19]

On 3 January 2018, Slater joined Scottish Championship club Dundee United on loan until the end of the 2017–18 season.[20] He made his debut on 6 January in United's 6–1 defeat at Falkirk and was substituted off after 59-minutes.[21] He scored his first goal for the club on 28 April in United's 2–0 win over Livingston.[22]

At the end of the 2017–18 season he was released by Colchester.[23]

On 2 July 2018 he joined Danish Superliga side AC Horsens for a short trial.[24]

Partick Thistle

Slater joined Scottish Championship side Partick Thistle on a one-year deal in July 2018.[25] He left the club in January 2020.[26]

Queen's Park

Later that month Slater signed for Scottish League Two side Queen's Park.[27] He would win the league with the Spiders, prior to leaving the club in 2021.[28]

Forfar Athletic

In May 2021, Forfar Athletic announced that they had signed Slater on a two-year deal.[29] He was nominated for Scottish League Two player of the year and named in the PFA team of the year in 2022–23.[30]

Arbroath

Slater signed a two-year contract with Scottish Championship club Arbroath in May 2023.[30]

International career

Slater has represented Scotland at under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels.

He made his under-16 debut against Jersey on 18 August 2009, and made four appearances in total.[31]

Slater made ten appearances for the under-17 team between his debut against Iceland in July 2009 and March 2011. He scored one goal for the team in Scotland's 2–1 win against the United States in November 2010.[32]

Slater played one game for Scotland's under-19 team on 9 April 2013 when they defeated their Serbian counterparts 2–1.[33]

On 5 March 2014, Slater made his debut for the Scotland under-21 side, starting in a 2–2 draw against Hungary at Tannadice.[34] Between 2014 and 2016, he made ten appearances for the under-21s.[35]

Coaching career

Slater joined Scottish Women's Premier League team Motherwell in July 2021, working as first team coach under head coach Paul Brownlie.[36]

Career statistics
As of match played 19 December 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Kilmarnock 2012–13[37] Scottish Premier League 2000000020
2013–14[8] Scottish Premiership 221100000231
2014–15[11] Scottish Premiership 264100000274
2015–16[13] Scottish Premiership 262312110324
Total 767512110859
Colchester United 2016–17[38] League Two 28310102[lower-alpha 1]0323
2017–18[39] League Two 6010102[lower-alpha 1]0100
Total 343202040423
Dundee United (loan) 2017–18[39] Scottish Championship 7120–0091
Partick Thistle 2018–19[40] Scottish Championship 30240502[lower-alpha 2]0412
2019–20[41] 6 0 2 0 0 0 2[lower-alpha 2] 1 10 1
Total 36 2 6 0 5 0 4 1 51 3
Queen's Park 2019–20[41] Scottish League Two 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1
2020–21[42] 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 1
Total 9 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 10 2
Forfar Athletic 2021–22[43] Scottish League Two 36 6 2 0 3 0 3[lower-alpha 3] 0 44 6
2022–23[44] 29 3 2 0 4 0 1[lower-alpha 2] 0 36 3
Total 65 9 4 0 7 0 4 0 80 9
Arbroath 2023–24[45] Scottish Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career total 162151511019019618
  1. Appearances in EFL Trophy
  2. Appearances in the Scottish Challenge Cup
  3. One appearance in the Scottish Challenge Cup, two appearances in the League One play-offs

Honours

Queen's Park

References
  1. Craig Slater at Soccerbase
  2. "Colchester United". FootballSquads. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  3. McDermott, Scott (8 January 2014). "Kilmarnock youngster Craig Slater finally cutting it after years of hell with St Mirren". Daily Record. Glasgow. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  4. Barnes, John (29 December 2012). "Motherwell 2–2 Kilmarnock". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  5. "Kilmarnock 1–3 Hibernian". BBC Sport. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  6. Stewart, Craig (21 February 2014). "Slater delighted with recognition". SPFL. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  7. Wilson, Richard (29 March 2014). "Motherwell 1–2 Kilmarnock". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  8. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  9. McLeod, Liam (9 August 2014). "Dundee 1–1 Kilmarnock". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  10. Wilson, Richard (1 January 2015). "St Mirren 1–2 Kilmarnock". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  11. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  12. "Kilmarnock 4–1 Berwick Rangers". BBC Sport. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  13. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  14. Wren, David (23 May 2016). "Craig Slater leaves Kilmarnock and more look set to follow after play-off heroics". Daily Record. Glasgow. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  15. Barnes, John (24 May 2016). "Kilmarnock aim to keep defender Miles Addison". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  16. "Craig Slater: Colchester United sign Kilmarnock midfielder". BBC Sport. 7 July 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  17. "Hartlepool United 1–1 Colchester United". BBC Sport. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  18. "Plymouth Argyle 2–1 Colchester United". BBC Sport. 29 October 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  19. "Colchester United: Kurtis Guthrie and Craig Slater out for season". BBC Sport. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  20. Coyle, Andy (3 January 2018). "Dundee United sign former Kilmarnock midfielder on loan". STV News. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  21. Crawford, Kenny (6 January 2018). "Falkirk 6–1 Dundee United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  22. "Dundee United 2–0 Livingston". BBC Sport. 28 April 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  23. "Colchester United: Doug Loft among four players leaving club". BBC Sport. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  24. "AC Horsens tester skotsk midtbanespiller | AC Horsens". achorsens.dk.
  25. "Craig Slater is a Jag". Partick Thistle FC. 4 July 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  26. "Craig Slater leaves the club". Partick Thistle FC.
  27. Davenport, Sean. "Craig Slater joins the Spiders".
  28. "League 2: Queen's Park are champions with four games to spare". BBC. 20 April 2021. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  29. "Gary completes a trio of new signings". forfarathletic.co.uk. 28 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  30. "Craig Slater". Arbroath FC. 18 May 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  31. "Craig Slater U16 Squad Matches". Scottish FA. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  32. "Craig Slater U17 Squad Matches". Scottish FA. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  33. "Craig Slater U19 Squad Matches". Scottish FA. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  34. "Scotland U21 2–2 Hungary U21". BBC Sport. 5 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  35. "Craig Slater U21 Squad Matches". Scottish FA. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  36. "Women's staff secured for season". Motherwell F.C. 12 July 2021.
  37. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  38. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  39. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  40. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  41. "Games played by Alex Jakubiak in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  42. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  43. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  44. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  45. "Games played by Craig Slater in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
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