Crewe Alexandra Football Club - Railwaymen

Crewe Alexandra History

2006-07 Season

13th in League One
League Cup: 3rd round; Manchester United h. 1-2 aet.
FA Cup: 1st round; Bradford City a. 0-4
JP Trophy: Northern Final; lost 6-5 on aggregate to Doncaster Rovers

Highlight:
5-1 win over Carlisle United, 30/9/06

Low Spot:
0-4 home defeat to Leyton Orient, 27/1/07

Good:
Luke Varney
The latest off the Crewe conveyor belt; quick, strong and 25 goals showed his eye for goal. Provided the club with another decent pay day with his move to Charlton and it will be interesting to watch his progress in the Championship.
Nicky Maynard
Varney made most of the headlines but his partner scored 19 goals at exactly one in every two games. Similar qualities to his departed teammate and might well be the next to boost the Crewe bank balance.

In Brief:
This was a landmark season with Dario Gradi finally stepping down from the position of manager, though he remains at the club in another capacity.
Sticking to their principles Alex had several good moments but never really looked like promotion contenders. Only 2 points came in the first 4 games before 4 wins in 5 raised optimism.
There was also a fine League Cup win over Wigan Athletic before they pushed Manchester United all the way into extra time before finally being knocked out.
Either side of the United game the club lost 3 on the trot in the league and only 1 point came from 5 games in December.
4 straight wins in February briefly raised hopes of a play off push but this simply fizzled out.
Promising young players continued to emerge at Gresty Road the most obvious of which was the prolific Luke Varney who became the latest star in the making to leave the club.
How long Alex can continue to produce such talent is anyones guess but they do give lie to the increasing belief that English football cannot develop its' own talent.

Crewe Alexandra F.C. - Club History

Crewe Alexandra Football Club was formed in 1877 when it was decided to adopt football within the already established cricket club.

The club first came to national prominence in 1888 when they reached the semi finals of the FA Cup. They enjoyed fine wins over Derby County and Middlesbrough before losing 4-0 to Preston North End in the last four.

Crewe became original members of Division Two in 1892 but failed to be re-elected in 1896 after finishing at the bottom of the division for the second season in succession.

It would not be until 1921 and the formation of Division Three North that the Railwaymen would regain a place in the Football League.

Crewe never threatened to climb out of that division, managing a highest placed finish of 6th. When the north and south sections merged in 1958 the club went into Division Four having finished bottom of the Northern section in the three previous seasons.

Life in the fourth division initially brought a deal of excitement to the club. They reached the 4th round of the FA Cup in 1960 and were paired with Tottenham Hotspur, the greatest side in the land at the time. In front of a capacity 20,000 crowd at Gresty Road, a club record, Crewe earned a splendid 2-2 draw. In the replay, however, they suffered an astonishing 13-2 defeat, another club record.

The following season they had to return to the capital to face Chelsea in a 3rd round tie. Crewe pulled off one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history by winning 2-1. Remarkably they then had to return to White Hart Lane in the 4th round. This time they escaped with a 5-1 thumping.

In 1963 Crewe won promotion to the third division after finishing 3rd in Division Four. They slipped to an immediate relegation but managed promotion again in 1968 after finishing 4th.

Once more the Railwaymen found the third division too much and were relegated after just one season in 1969.

It would be twenty years before the club would climb out of the bottom division again. They finished bottom of the table on three occasions before automatic relegation from the league had been introduced, in 1972, 79 and 82.

In June 1983 Crewe appointed Dario Gradi as their manager and incredibly he is still in charge 22 years later.

Although the club flirted around the bottom end of the table in 1986-87 when relegation to the conference was introduced they survived and soon began to prosper.

Gradi's ability to groom young talent was already in evidence as future England internationals David Platt and Geoff Thomas came to prominence at Gresty Road.

Crewe won promotion in 1989 going up along with Tranmere Rovers at the expense of Scunthorpe United after drawing the final game of the season 1-1 at Prenton Park. Just emerging at that time were Craig Hignett and Rob Jones.

Division Three still proved too much of a challenge and Crewe were relegated after two seasons in 1991. The club then missed out in the play offs in the next two seasons.

In 1992 Crewe lost on a 4-2 aggregate to Scunthorpe in the semi finals and the following year they slaughtered Walsall 9-3 on aggregate in the semis before losing 5-3 on penalties to York City in the final at Wembley after a 1-1 draw.

In 1994, however, they clinched 3rd place in the table to move back into the third tier automatically.

This time the club proved themselves more than good enough to cope at that level as players like Neil Lennon, Danny Murphy and Robbie Savage came to the fore. Crewe missed out on automatic promotion behind Brentford by just a single point in 1995, losing in the play off semi finals to Bristol Rovers on away goals.

They again missed out in the play offs in 1996 beaten narrowly in the semi finals by Notts County, 3-2 on aggregate.

In 1997, however, Crewe emerged victorious from the play offs to claim a place in the first division. They beat Luton 4-3 on aggregate in the semi finals before winning 1-0 in the final against Brentford with a Shaun Smith goal.

The club finished 11th in their first season back in the second tier and stayed for five seasons in total before being relegated in 2002.

To the surprise of many Crewe managed to win promotion back to the second tier at the first attempt in 2003 finishing as runners up behind Wigan Athletic.

They have struggled against relegation in both of the past two seasons, however, and look like they may have lost one player too many after selling Dean Ashton to Norwich City last season.

The club have a dismal League Cup record, having never progressed beyond the 3rd round.

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