Dario Gradi MBE (born 8 July 1941) is an Italian-born English football manager and former player, currently director of football and caretaker manager of Crewe Alexandra, a club with which Gradi has been associated for almost thirty years.

Gradi is notable for his 24-year spell as manager of Crewe, between 1983 and 2007. He stepped down from his managerial role in 2007, handing first-team responsibilities to Steve Holland, and became technical director. At that time, Gradi was the longest serving manager of an English football league club.^[1]

Over his career Gradi has become one of English football's most respected managers and coaches. Born to an Italian father (who died when Dario was a small child) and an English mother, he moved to London when his mother returned after the Second World War.

[edit] Playing career

He trained as a teacher of physical education at what is now Loughborough University between 1960 and 1963 and his first teaching position was at Glyn Grammar School, Epsom – the school which he himself had attended.^{[citation needed]} As a footballer, he played for Sutton United, playing in the FA Cup tie against Leeds United in 1970, and Tooting & Mitcham United. During that time Gradi also owned and operated a sportswear and equipment shop in Ewell village.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Coaching career

After a period of teaching, Gradi turned to football coaching, becoming Assistant Coach at Chelsea in 1971 at the age of just 29. This was followed by coaching and management posts at Sutton United, Derby County, Wimbledon, and a two-year spell as youth-coach at Leyton Orient.

[edit] Management career

[edit] Wimbledon

He took over as manager of Wimbledon in January 1978, helping the Plough Lane side win their first promotion from the Football League Fourth Division in 1978/79, although they were relegated at the first attempt. They were well on course for an immediate return to the Football League Third Division when in February 1981 an offer came for Gradi to manage struggling Football League First Division side Crystal Palace.

[edit] Crystal Palace

However, his time at Selhurst Park was not a success, as he failed to save Palace from relegation and he resigned the following November as a disappointing start to the 1981/82 season saw their promotion hopes effectively written off (promotion was ultimately not achieved for another seven seasons).

[edit] Crewe Alexandra

Gradi returned to management in June 1983, when he accepted an offer to manage Crewe Alexandra, a team who regularly finished near the bottom of the Fourth Division and had been forced to apply for re-election on several occasions in order to avoid slipping into the Northern Premier League and, since its creation in 1979, the Alliance Premier League. His first signing was Mike Woodward from Watford and gradually the club moved forward.

In 1988/89, after six seasons of steady progress, they won promotion to end 25 years in the league's basement division. They went back down again two years later, but in 1994 won promotion to the Division Two and three years after that they reached Division One for the first time in their history. Shortly after the 1994 promotion, Gradi became the League's longest-serving manager, long outlasting others in such jobs.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Gradi helped launch the careers of many players who went on to play top division and even international football. These include David Platt, Rob Jones, Geoff Thomas, Danny Murphy, Ashley Ward, Wayne Collins, Dean Ashton and Neil Lennon. Platt was the most successful of these players, captaining England on many occasions and also helping Arsenal win the double at the end of his playing career.

By 2002, he was one of just two managers to have held their position since before 1990. He has since joined the club's Board of Directors.

His keen eye for spotting and rearing young talent is what has gained him some recognition in football. He was linked with the post of FA Technical Director in 1996,^[3] and also entered into discussions with Portugal's Benfica over the vacant managerial spot in the 1980s.

His success continued into the 2000s, when he helped launch the career of a new generation of young stars including Dean Ashton and Michael O'Connor. A host of other players have achieved caps below full international status - e.g.: schoolboy, under-18, under-21, etc. Gradi is respected for encouraging his sides to play the game in a fair spirit,^[4] whilst also ensuring that his players seek to play 'proper' football rather than 'long-ball' football.

On 20 April 2007 Gradi announced that with effect from 1 July he would relinquish first team responsibilities, becoming Technical Director while gradually handing over to new first-team coach Steve Holland, with Neil Baker remaining as assistant manager. Gradi told the club website:

"I didn't want to be a 75-year-old manager working seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. That is not healthy for the future of the club. I will probably drop dead doing the job at some point but I wanted to put that day off a bit. This is a better way to do things, to introduce this gradual transition because it will take some of the workload off me." ^[5]

On 18 November 2008, Gradi resumed control of Crewe's first team on a caretaker basis after a poor start to the 2008/09 season under Steve Holland had left the club bottom of League One.^[6] He was in charge for just over a month before Gudjon Thordarson was announced as his successor on Christmas Eve 2008.^[7] Gradi remained in charge of the team for two games during the Christmas period, with Thordarson taking over on 29 December. Following the sacking of Thordarson on 2 October 2009,^[8] Gradi was again reinstated as caretaker manager which the board of directors then stated would be until further notice.

[edit] Tributes

Gradi was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2004 in recognition of his impact as a manager in the English game.

The British dance music group Dario G is named in his honour, as is a street in Crewe, Dario Gradi Drive 53°5′9.91″N 2°26′16.23″W / 53.0860861°N 2.4378417°W / 53.0860861; -2.4378417. In 2003 he was made an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich and in the same year was awarded an honorary doctorate by Loughborough University.

The winning school in the Surrey Schools Football Association's boys under-13s competition receive the Dario Gradi Trophy.^[9]

[edit] Managerial statistics

As of 7 November 2009

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Wimbledon		5 January 1978	1 January 1981	171	63	61	47	36.8
Crystal Palace		1 February 1981	10 November 1981	27	6	18	3	22.2
Crewe Alexandra1		1 June 1983	1 July 2007	1244	462	477	305	37.1
Crewe Alexandra (caretaker)		18 November 2008	28 December 20082	9	3	5	1	33.3
Crewe Alexandra (caretaker)		2 October 2009	current	6	2	4	0	33.3

¹ Between 22 September and 17 October 2003 Neil Baker took temporary charge of the team while Gradi underwent heart surgery. The team did not win any matches during this period.

² Gradi's successor, Gudjon Thordarson, was announced on 24 December, but Gradi remained in charge of the team for games on 26 and 28 December.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dario Gradi management career stats at Soccerbase
• English Football Hall of Fame Profile