Stephen Daniel Crainey (born 22 June 1981) is a Scottish former professional footballer whose most recent job was as assistant manager for Bolton Wanderers.

On 6 August 2004, he joined Football League Championship side Leeds United, initially on loan before the move was made permanent four days later for a fee of £200,000.

However, Crainey was sent off in the 68th minute in the second leg of the semi-final, as the Whites beat Preston North End to reach the final, which they then lost 3–0 to Watford.

Crainey's recovery coincided with the return to fitness of loan player Robbie Elliott who was regarded as Dennis Wise's first choice left-back.

Elliott featured on the bench for the game against Leicester City on 13 March 2007, in his first outing since returning from injury, but Crainey was not even included in the squad as Wise chose to start Armando Sá in that role.

[5] Crainey scored his first-ever league goal on 19 September 2007, in a 2–2 draw with Bryan Robson's Sheffield United at Bloomfield Road.

In June 2008 newspaper reports linked Crainey with a £250,000 move to fellow Championship club Burnley,[9][10] but he instead signed a new contract with Blackpool.

Crainey was named in the Championship "Team of the Week", along with teammates Matthew Gilks and Marcel Seip, following his performance in Blackpool's 0–0 draw with Swansea City on 24 October at the Liberty Stadium.

[13][14] On 22 January 2011, in a home defeat to Sunderland, Crainey suffered an ankle injury that saw him miss part of Blackpool's debut season in the Premier League.

[17] On 11 February 2012, Crainey scored his third League goal for Blackpool in a draw against Portsmouth with a free kick into the top right hand corner.

[20] After leaving Fleetwood, Crainey trained with Barnsley before signing for National League North club AFC Fylde in December 2015 for a short spell.

[24] On 16 November 2010 Crainey made a return to the Scotland set up under Craig Levein for a friendly against the Faroe Islands at Pittodrie to claim his seventh cap.