Who is Dario Gradi, Crewe Alexandra's director of football and longest-serving manager?

Gradi’s stewardship of Crewe was notable for the number of high-quality young players nurtured through the club’s youth system

Gradi receives the Merit Award at the PFA Awards Dinner in 2004 (Getty)

Dario Gradi is a former football manager and the current director of football at Crewe Alexandra, who he managed for a total of 26 years.

Despite failing to win any major honours during his career, Gradi’s stewardship of Crewe was notable for the number of high-quality young players nurtured through the club’s youth system.

The likes of Rob Jones, Danny Murphy, Seth Johnson and Dean Ashton went on to play international football having been developed Crewe’s academy.

Others such as David Platt, Neil Lennon and Robbie Savage blossomed at Gresty Road having arrived as cast-offs from bigger clubs.

Earlier this month, Gradi released a statement insisting he was unaware of alleged abuse that took place at Crewe during the 1980s and 1990s.

What’s his background?

After playing football at an amateur level with Tooting & Mitcham United and Sutton United, Gradi began his coaching career at Chelsea in 1971.

His first full-time managerial role came at Wimbledon in 1978, with Gradi guiding them to promotion from the Fourth Division in his first full season in charge.

Relegation followed, but that did not deter embattled top-flight outfit Crystal Palace from poaching Gradi in February 1981.

Gradi failed to save the struggling south London club from the drop and resigned in November 1981, following a poor start to life in the second tier.

In 1983, he began what would be a 24-year-long stint as manager of Crewe Alexandra, then a Fourth Division side.

Gradi’s Crewe made steady progress and were rewarded with promotion to the Third Division in 1989.

The following year, he signed a 10-year contract at the club. Not only was this an extraordinarily long deal, but it also awarded Gradi a portion of the money earned through player sales.

Crewe’s stay in the third tier was short, with relegation following the very next season, yet Gradi consolidated, rebuilt and took his team up again in 1994.

In 1997, he brought second-tier football to Crewe for the first time in their history, cementing his status as a legendary figure at the club.

Gradi was awarded an MBE for services to football in 1998. Seven years later, he won the PFA’s Merit Award and was inducted in the English Football Hall of Fame.

By this point, Gradi was the longest-serving manager in league football, with his tenure at Crewe surpassing Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United reign by three years.

Gradi stepped down from managerial duties at Crewe in 2007 and became the club’s technical director, only to reassume first-team duties a year later on a temporary basis.

In 2009, Gradi was reinstated as manager following the dismissal of Gudjon Thordarson. He was in charge for two further years until, in November 2011, he became Crewe’s director of football.

He remains in the latter role at Gresty Road to this day.