AFC Fylde's James Craigen left in limbo after season ends early for both his clubs

The Coasters’ versatile 28-year-old moved to the Scottish east coast for the rest of the season during the January window, but he played only four games before all Scotland’s professional leagues below the Premiership were scrapped due to coronavirus.

The Preston-born full-back or midfielder was signed for Fylde by Dave Challinor last summer but had fewer opportunities at Mill Farm after Jim Bentley took over as manager in October.

The loan move to Scotland took Craigen back to where most of his career has been spent. A product of the Preston North End Academy, he ventured north of the border to study at Edinburgh University and stayed to play for Partick Thistle, Raith Rovers, Falkirk and Dunfermline before returning to his north-west roots with Fylde.

Craigen made 19 appearances for the Coasters, 15 of them in the National League, but he admits his future is up in the air.

“I’ve not made any decisions in terms of next season,” he said. “I really enjoyed my time in Arbroath and would like to think I have a good reputation in Scotland, but there are more important things going on right now than football.

“The manager who signed me at Fylde got sacked. I had played the majority of games up until then.

“I got on well with the new manager but wasn’t in the team and I asked to be sent out on loan as I needed to be playing.

“I got a phone call from Dick Campbell (Arbroath boss) on the final day of the window and managed to force that through.

“I’d worked under Dick before (at Forfar), so it was a good chance to get playing with a side who were doing well.

“Dick had actually phoned me in the summer to see if I wanted to sign for Arbroath after they got promoted.

“I’d played in the Championship for five to six years and was in the play-offs every season but one, and we thought we could do that with Arbroath as well.

“I was there for close to two months but with the postponements I only had four games.

“The lads had done well, so I wasn’t straight in the team either.

“I was looking forward to the fixtures coming thick and fast, so it was really disappointing that it was cut short.”

There will be no further games for Fylde either, though it remains to be seen how the National League will be resolved.

The termination of the season in Scotland proved highly controversial and the issues of promotion and relegation in the National League are sure to be no less contentious.

Craigen hopes second-bottom Fylde survive but admits to being “in the dark” as to their fate.

He added: “Let’s be honest, it could have gone a bit smoother in Scotland. I’m sure looking back on it they will probably think they could have done a better job.

“But in the National League Barrow are top and from my encounters have been the best team in the division. With Bury being liquidated, there is a space in the EFL for a team to go up.

“Fylde had just got seven points out of nine before it stopped and momentum was building.

“When I joined Fylde we were 6/1 favourites to go up. We started the season well and then fell away but we definitely had the players to stay up.

“It’s a tough league, where you play Tuesday-Saturday with a lot of travelling.

“The lads would have been confident after the last few games that they could have gotten out of it.”