West Bromwich Albion Cross started his career at
First Division side
West Bromwich Albion in 1980, as the club finished fourth in the league under
Ron Atkinson in
1980–81. The club struggled under
Ronnie Allen's stewardship in
1981–82, avoiding
relegation by only two points. They went on to finish in mid-table in
1982–83 under
Ron Wylie before Wylie was replaced by
Johnny Giles in February 1984. At the end of the
1983–84 campaign, West Brom avoided relegation by a narrow three-point margin. At the end of the
1984–85 season, Cross left
The Hawthorns to sign with
Walsall, who paid a £48,000
transfer fee. He became a favourite of Pleat, ahead of
Jimmy Quinn in the first-team pecking order. The "Foxes" posted comfortable mid-table finishes in
1987–88 and
1988–89; Cross made a total of 58 league appearances, scoring 15 goals. He played in a
strike partnership with
David Kelly.
Port Vale Cross signed with Leicester's newly promoted
Second Division rivals
Port Vale for a £125,000 fee in June 1989. He went straight into the first-team at Vale, and played a total of 50 games in
1989–90, scoring 15 goals. He returned to action at the end of the
1991–92 campaign, playing eight games as the "Valiants" were relegated to the Third Division (which was immediately renamed the Second Division due to the creation of the
Premier League). and
Blackpool – later in the season he scored another brace against Blackpool in the return fixture. He scored a total of 43 goals in 176 games in all competitions for
John Rudge's Port Vale.
Later career At age 33, he was given a
free transfer to
Hereford United in May 1994. He would play a total of 85 games for the "Bulls" in all competitions, scoring 18 goals, as they posted a 16th-place finish in
1994–95, before missing out on promotion out of the Third Division under the stewardship of
Graham Turner in
1995–96 after losing out to
Darlington at the play-off semi-final stage. Following this disappointment, he joined
non-League side
Solihull Borough. He helped Solihull to reach the first round of the
FA Cup for the second time in their history in
1997–98 and scored in both their 1–1 draw with
Darlington at
Feethams, and the 3–3 draw in the replay at
Damson Park – Darlington won the resulting
penalty shoot-out. ==Style of play==