moved to West Bromwich Albion for £250,000, playing under his former Grimsby manager Alan Buckley. West Bromwich Albion His spell at the Hawthorns was frustrating for Crichton as he spent a lot of time on the bench, playing only 33 games in 2 years with the club, and finding himself playing second fiddle to Alan Miller, a goalkeeper signed for £400,000 shortly after Crichton's arrival. Crichton was again farmed out on loan, first for a week from 7 August 1997 to Aston Villa, as a standby goalkeeper while Mark Bosnich was injured, but manager Brian Little selected Michael Oakes in goal and Crichton never played a competitive game for Villa. Burnley He then joined Burnley on loan in August 1998, playing just once, in the opening game of the season, before being recalled to the Hawthorns after just 3 days. He returned to Burnley in a permanent move on 19 November 1998, costing the Clarets £100,000 and quickly established himself in the Burnley side. He was an ever-present in the 1999–2000 season, as Burnley won promotion to Division One, but the following season lost his place to Greek international goalkeeper Nikolaos Michopoulos. His spell at Burnley may be remembered for his part in one of Burnley's worst ever spells in football. In February 1999, Burnley played Gillingham at Turf Moor, Gillingham won 5–0 with Robert Taylor scoring all 5 goals (at the time it was a post-war record for number of goals scored by one person on an away ground). Things went from bad to worst in the following fixture, again at home, this time to Manchester City as City won 6–0. Crichton was in goal for both games, and although the defence was perhaps more to blame than him, it was the most goals he had conceded in two games. Latter career On 22 June 2001 Norwich City paid £150,000 to sign him from Burnley. He was signed as a back-up goalkeeper, however, and spent his time playing understudy to Robert Green. After only 6 appearances in three seasons, Crichton joined York City on a free transfer in 2004, although he ended his final season at Norwich with a first division championship medal after the Canaries won promotion to the Premiership. However, he was sacked by York in September 2004 after an incident with a supporter, and joined Gainsborough Trinity. Later that month he joined Stafford Rangers, playing twice