Stockport County were right to ignore AFC Fylde warning over 2020 target: View | OneFootball

The midfielder arrived in controversy but turned out to be a model professional for the Hatters

Ask any Stockport County face to name a model professional from their recent history and Ryan Croasdale is likely to be a popular reply.

So it comes as some surprise that he arrived at Edgeley Park in 2020 under a cloud of controversy after his former club, AFC Fylde, put a statement out about him titled 'The Unacceptable Face of Football'.

After completing four years with the Hatters, before sealing a move to Port Vale on the expiry of his deal, he was instrumental in two promotions and was a consistent force to be reckoned with in the midfield unit.

The decision-makers at County should be commended for setting aside those early warnings put out by Fylde and giving Croasdale a chance.

Croasdale arrived at Mill Farm rated extremely highly

There had not always been a difficult relationship between Croasdale and the Coasters, as he arrived in 2018 as one of the club's most highly-rated prospects.

He had dropped into non-league with Kidderminster Harriers after not quite managing to make a mark on the senior sides of Preston North End and Sheffield Wednesday.

However, an inspired couple of seasons with the Harriers in the National League North — the sixth tier of English football — soon got his career back on track.

He impressed so much that Fylde, then in the fifth tier, were willing to smash their transfer record to bring him in for £50,000, a substantial fee at a level that is more accustomed to dealing in free transfers. It'd be Croasdale's first time working under manager Dave Challinor, then at Mill Farm, but it would not be the last.

A controversial exit followed

The now-29-year-old proved worth every penny of his record-breaking fee in the following two seasons, becoming a regular starter and contributing a useful number of goals and assists.

But in 2020, with Challinor moved on to Hartlepool United and the pandemic setting in, the relationship between player and club broke down over new, reduced, payment terms offered to Croasdale during this time.

The midfielder felt unable to accept and wanted to tear up his contract to find a new club. When the FA ruled in his favour, the club took the unusual step of putting out a lengthy public statement, going into intimate detail about his former deal and the inner workings of the breakdown between the two parties.

The statement concluded by labelling the midfielder unacceptable. This messy scenario could easily, and may well have, put other potential employers off, wary that Croasdale might be the sort of trouble causer that every club wants to avoid.

County did well to avoid warnings

Due to that situation, the Hatters were able to pick Croasdale up on a free transfer, and what a move that proved to be.

For almost four full seasons, he was a mainstay at the base of the Hatters midfield, starting out in the National League and rising all the way to a League Two title win, clinching promotion to the third tier for the side.

He dutifully carried out his role throughout his time with the club, linking back up with Challinor midway through his County stint, and rising to vice-captain in his final Edgeley Park season. He was even at one stage playing through a hernia issue because the team needed him, and later had to have surgery to rectify the problem.

All in all, it is difficult to see Croasdale as anything other than a success for County; a strong free transfer that arose out of the Hatters making the most of a difficult situation.

They could easily have been put off by the drama surrounding the midfielder at the time, but they put faith in him and that faith was repaid and then some by Croasdale.