[12] An FA Cup third round draw between Oldham and Manchester City raised the possibility of Croft facing his employers as an opposing player, but competition rules prevented him from doing so.

On 28 July 2006, Croft signed for Norwich City for a fee of £600,000 and scored his first goal for the club on 12 August 2006 in a 3–2 win against Luton at Carrow Road.

[15] Croft continued his good start at Carrow Road with another goal in the 5–1 demolition of Barnsley on 26 August 2006 and was seen by many City fans as providing balance to the team on the right-hand side that had been missing for some time.

[16][17] After making his return from injury, Croft went for a long period without scoring, but finally got on the scoresheet with a goal in another game against Barnsley at Oakwell on 3 March 2007.

After Norwich City's relegation Croft decided against signing a new contract, which alerted Derby County manager Nigel Clough.

[21] After making his debut in a 2–1 home win over Peterborough United on 8 March 2009,[22] Croft played a part in 13 of Derby's first 15 league fixtures and scored his first for the club in a 3–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday on 3 October 2009.

Of Croft, Derby manager Nigel Clough said "He is on the fringe of the squad and at the moment and given the way he is sort of playing, we can't see him getting back involved.

He got his first ever career red card on 9 October away at Colchester United, but Huddersfield still managed to win 3–0, and inflict a first league defeat of the season on their opponents.

Ahead of his return to his parent club, Derby manager Nigel Clough stated that Croft had no future at Pride Park and that he would look at loaning the player out again in 2011.

[30] He was in the starting line-up as Derby's first three games of the season (Championship victories over Birmingham City and Watford sandwiching a League Cup home defeat to Shrewsbury Town) before dropping to the bench for the club's subsequent fixtures and then eventually losing his place in the matchday 16 as Clough switched to a formation without wide players.

This was at the end of a successful season-long spell which resulted in Croft winning the Fans Player of the Season award and playing in 53 out of Oldham's 54 games in all competitions.

[6] He played in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, making two appearances for England Under-20 as they finished bottom of Group D.[8] On 14 October 2012, Croft was the subject of a police investigation after he was accused of racially abusing a black ball boy.