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Dario Gradi
| Category: | Manager |
| Year Inducted: | 2004 |
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of Football's Greatest Heroes, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
Sir Bobby Robson believes that Dario Gradi established himself as one of the best managers in football during a long, distinguished career ‘at the difficult end' of the game.
The longest serving manager with a single club, Gradi transformed the fortunes of Crewe Alexandra over a period of 24 years. After more than 1200 games in charge, he finally stepped aside – at the age of 65 – in order to take up an advisory position to the board in 2007.
During his time in charge he lifted the modest Cheshire club from the bottom of the old Fourth Division to a place in the Championship, competing against clubs whose support base dwarfed the average 7,000 home attendance at Gresty Road.
‘Dario is honest, diligent and remarkable,' Robson said. ‘He did a great job at Crewe and proved himself to be one of our best managers.' Arsene Wenger described Gradi's working relationship with the club as ‘a great marriage'.
Before Gradi took over in 1983 – three years before the appointment of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United – Crewe had spent the entire 20 th century languishing in the bottom two divisions of the Football League.
Gradually, by concentrating on developing young talent, Gradi took the club forward, culiminating in their rise to 11th place in the second tier of football - their highest ever finish - in 1997-98. In seven of the next eight seasons Crewe stood one promotion away from the Premier League. Rewarded by the club with successive 10-year contracts, Gradi was given the Freedom of the Borough of Crewe, Nantwich in 2003.
‘When I arrived, the team was struggling and the ground was a dump,' Gradi recalled. ‘But that's just what I wanted. There was only one way to go, and that was up.'
Crewe had no coaching system in place and no youth team, so he set them up himself. Since then, Gradi has coached 21 youngsters who have gone on to play for their country at full, Under-21 or Under-18 level.
Danny Murphy, Robbie Savage, Neil Lennon, Seth Johnson, Geoff Thomas, Dean Ashton and, most notably, David Platt, all came through the system before graduating to Premier League clubs. After being rejected by Manchester United , Platt rebuilt his career with Gradi, before moving on to Aston Villa, and then Bari and Arsenal.
In 1996-97 Murphy and Johnson played alongside each other in midfield; when the each moved on, to Liverpool and Derby County respectively, for a combined total of £5 million.
Speaking in 2000, he explained his longevity this way: ‘I've been lucky. I've not had pressure from directors – because of how far we've come.' He also works hard. ‘Last year I didn't take a day off.'
Gradi was a chairman's dream manager: since 1983, more than £20 million has been generated in transfer fees, 10 times the outlay on new players; the team won promotion four times, and average crowds at Gresty Road tripled.
Almost half of the transfer funds injected into the club have been spent on facilities at Gresty Road. A new main stand cost £5 million, with £500,000 spent on improving the rest of the ground. The training ground took up another £2 million.
‘The ground is a lasting legacy to my work here, and perhaps they might name some part of the ground after me when I'm dead and gone, but I'd be too embarrassed if they did it while I'm still around.'