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Craig James Brewster (born 13 December, 1966) is a Scottish professional footballer and manager. He is currently player-manager of Scottish Premier League team Dundee United.
Early career
Brewster was born in Dundee and grew up a Dundee United supporter. He signed for the club as a schoolboy, but wasn't offered professional terms by then manager Jim McLean. Unable to find a senior club, Brewster dropped into junior football with Dundee Stobswell for a while, before signing for in 1985. At this time, his regular playing position was in midfield. His form at Forfar prompted the attention of , who signed him in 1991. At this time he was converted into a striker, and formed a prolific partnership with Gordon Dalziel that helped Raith to the First Division title in 1993. That summer, Brewster returned to Dundee United, signing for the Tannadice club for a fee of £250,000.
Scottish Cup winner
After a slow start in which he struggled to adapt to Premeier Division football, Brewster's first season at Tannadice would culminate in his greatest moment as a player, scoring the winner for United in the 1994 Scottish Cup final against Rangers. However, this success would not last, with the club being relegated a year later. Brewster helped the club towards promotion back to the top flight in 1995-96, his goals tally including four in one match against , but with his contract expiring at the end of the season he decided to further his career elsewhere. With the Bosman ruling having just come into force, Brewster was entitled to move abroad on a free transfer, and he decided to take advantage of an offer from Greek club Ionikos.
Greece and afterwards
While other Scottish players who moved to Europe at this time mainly returned home soon afterwards, Brewster would remain at Ionikos for five seasons. His time in Greece included another national cup final appearance, but Ionikos lost the 2000 Greek Cup to AEK Athens. The following year, Brewster returned to Scotland, signing for . A year later he joined , where he enjoyed some of the most consistent form of his career playing alongside Stevie Crawford, who had a been a youngster at Raith during Brewster's time there. Despite some clamour from fans and the media for Brewster to be called up to the Scotland squad at this time, this never materialised.
Management
In November 2004, Brewster was offered the job of player-manager with , and the promise he showed in this role led to speculation of a return to Dundee United in a managerial capacity. This came to pass in January 2006 when he was appointed to the player-manager position back at his home town club.
External links
1966 births | Living people | Dundonians | Scottish footballers | Scottish football managers | Dundee United F.C. players | Dundee United F.C. managers | Hibernian F.C. players | Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players | Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players | Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. managers
"Craig Brewster"