[2] Gary Croft graduated from the Grimsby Town youth setup in 1992, and was handed his first team debut by Alan Buckley shortly afterwards.
Croft became an integral part of the Blundell Park setup and was one of a number of successful professional footballers in the mid nineties who came from the club, others included the likes of Jack Lester, Danny Butterfield and John Oster.
His versatility and composure on the ball led to interest from Blackburn Rovers in 1996 who had won the Premier League title in the previous season.
Croft transferred to Blackburn for £1.6 million in 1996, brought to the club by Ray Harford, but although not usually a regular for the Rovers he would feature more under Roy Hodgson.
However, following more injury woe, Croft was sidelined for the majority of his stay at Ninian Park and, following his team's rise up the league table, he was deemed surplus to requirements and was released at the end of the 2004/2005 season.
He went on to obtain his UEFA coaches badges, has also joined the Compass FM commentary team as expert summariser for Grimsby Town's matches, and continues to be involved with a local Grimsby/Cleethorpes area Estate Agent that he and relatives founded around the time of his second Mariners spell.