Dario Gradi facts for kids

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Dario Gradi

Gradi in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Dario Gradi
Date of birth	(1941-07-08) 8 July 1941 (age 83)
Place of birth	Milan, Italy
Playing position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1969–1970	Sutton United
1971	Tooting & Mitcham United
Teams managed
1976–1977	Sutton United
1978–1981	Wimbledon
1981	Crystal Palace
1983–2007	Crewe Alexandra
2008	Crewe Alexandra (caretaker)
2009–2011	Crewe Alexandra
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Dario Gradi (born 8 July 1941) is a famous Italian-English former football player, coach, and manager. He is best known for spending over 36 years with Crewe Alexandra. During his time there, he worked as a manager, director of football, and director of the club's Academy. He finally left the club in October 2019.

Gradi started his football journey as an amateur player for clubs around London. He even played once for the England amateur team. After his playing days, he moved into coaching. His first big success as a manager was with Wimbledon. He then had a short spell managing Crystal Palace in 1981.

His longest and most famous period was as manager of Crewe Alexandra. He led the team for 24 years, from 1983 to 2007. At one point, he was the longest-serving manager in the English Football League. He returned to manage Crewe two more times. He finally stepped down in November 2011 to focus on the club's youth system. Overall, he managed Crewe in an amazing 1,359 first-team games.

Early Life and Playing Career

Dario Gradi was born in Milan, Italy. His Italian father passed away when Dario was a young child. In 1945, after the Second World War, his English mother brought him to London when he was four years old.

He went to Glyn Grammar School in Epsom. From 1960 to 1963, he studied to become a physical education teacher at what is now Loughborough University. While there, he played football for the university's top team. After finishing his studies, he went back to teach at his old school.

During the early 1960s, he played as an amateur for clubs like Sutton United and Tooting & Mitcham United. In September 1967, he earned one cap for England's amateur side. He played against Scotland in the British Amateur Championship. He later rejoined Sutton United. He played in the FA Amateur Cup Final in April 1969 and in an FA Cup match against Leeds United in January 1970. Gradi also played for Wycombe Wanderers before they became a professional club.

Coaching Career

After teaching for some time, Gradi became a regional coach for the FA in London. This meant he could no longer play as an amateur. He coached at Senrab F.C., a youth club in east London. In 1971, at just 29 years old, he was appointed assistant coach at Chelsea.

He then had other coaching jobs. He was the first-team coach at Derby County from 1977 to 1978. Later, he spent two years as the youth team coach at Leyton Orient from 1981 to 1983.

Managerial Career Highlights

Sutton United

Dario Gradi's first managerial role was with Sutton United. He managed the team from 1976 to 1977.

Wimbledon

In January 1978, he became the manager of Wimbledon. He helped the club win promotion from the Football League Fourth Division in the 1978–79 season. However, they were relegated after just one season in the Third Division. They were doing well and looked set to return to the Third Division. Then, in February 1981, Gradi received an offer to manage Crystal Palace. This club was struggling in the First Division. The chairman of Crystal Palace, Ron Noades, had previously been at Wimbledon. He believed Gradi was the right person to save his new club from relegation.

Crystal Palace

Gradi's time at Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace was not successful. He could not prevent the team from being relegated. He resigned the following November after a difficult start to the 1981–82 season.

Crewe Alexandra: A Long and Successful Era

After coaching at Leyton Orient, Gradi returned to management on 9 June 1983. He accepted the job to manage Crewe Alexandra. At that time, Crewe often finished at the bottom of the Fourth Division. They frequently had to apply to stay in the league.

Gradi immediately started building a strong youth academy. His goal was to develop young players who could be sold to fund the club's growth. Early successes included selling players like Dave Waller, Gary Blissett, and Geoff Thomas. Slowly, the club began to improve.

In the 1988–89 season, after six years of steady progress, Crewe won promotion. This ended their 25-year stay in the league's lowest division. Gradi signed a very long ten-year contract with Crewe. They were relegated two years later. However, in 1994, they won promotion to Division Two. Three years after that, they reached Division One for the first time in their history.

Soon after the 1994 promotion, Gradi became the longest-serving manager in the Football League. By 2002, he was one of only two managers, along with Alex Ferguson, who had been in their job since before 1990. He also joined the club's Board of Directors.

Spotting Young Talent

Dario Gradi became famous for his amazing ability to find and develop young football talent. He helped many players start their careers. These players went on to play in top divisions and for their national teams.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he helped players like David Platt, Rob Jones, Geoff Thomas, Danny Murphy, Ashley Ward, Wayne Collins, Seth Johnson, Robbie Savage, and Neil Lennon. His success continued into the 2000s. He helped players such as Rob Hulse, Dean Ashton, David Vaughan, Michael O'Connor, Billy Jones, Nicky Maynard, and Ashley Westwood.

Under Gradi's leadership, Crewe Alexandra won the PFA Bobby Moore Fair Play trophy 12 times in 15 years. This award recognizes fair play and good sportsmanship.

End of Managerial Career

On 20 April 2007, Gradi announced he would step down as first-team manager from 1 July. He became the technical director. He gradually handed over his duties to the new first-team coach, Steve Holland. At this point, Gradi was the longest-serving manager in the English Football League.

On 18 November 2008, Gradi took charge of Crewe's first team again. This was on a temporary basis after a poor start to the 2008–09 season. He was in charge for just over a month before Gudjon Thordarson was appointed as manager. Gradi managed two more games during the Christmas period.

After Thordarson was sacked on 2 October 2009, Gradi was again made caretaker manager. The club's board said he would stay in charge until further notice. On 10 November 2011, Gradi announced he had decided to step down as manager for good. He returned to his role as Director of Football. His assistant, Steve Davis, who had played for Crewe under Gradi, became the new manager.

Dario Gradi officially retired from all his roles at Crewe Alexandra on 7 October 2019. He was 78 years old. This marked the end of his 36-year connection with the club.

Honours and Tributes

In January 1998, Gradi was awarded an MBE for his contributions to football. In 2003, he was made an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich. In the same year, he received an honorary doctorate from Loughborough University.

In 2004, Gradi won the PFA Merit Award. He was also inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame for his great service to football. At the Football League Awards in 2011, Gradi was again honored. He won the 'Outstanding Contribution to League Football' award for his work at Crewe. A street in Crewe, Dario Gradi Drive, is named after him. The winning school in the Surrey Schools Football Association's boys under-13s competition receives the Dario Gradi Trophy.

Managerial Statistics

¹Gradi was away from his job between 22 September and 17 October 2003. This was because he had heart surgery. Assistant manager Neil Baker took charge of the team during this time.

Honours

Individual

• League Two Manager of the Month: January 2011

See also

• List of football managers with most games
• List of longest managerial reigns in association football