First congrats to the side that beat Chelmsford to bring home the Essex Senior Cup after a far too long absence of eleven years. The tall Hungarian Liptak showing a poachers skill to grab the winner in front of nearly 3,000 at the Hall. Well done again to Dean Austin and the team.
For the first team it's now April and six games left after a very successful March which brought 14 points, a possible manager of the month award for Tilly, the Borient buggering off at last, the Farmers as good as relegated, oh and a top six place and a useful four point gap over the seventh place club Leeds.
Talking of everybody's favourite club from Yorkshire, shame about their Tuesday night win at Donny along with Forest at Carlisle, both were being battered for most of their games according to FiveLive, but they got the points and at this stage that's all that matters. It means nothing is certain for the Blues and any of the top ten are all in with a shout. However, I would argue it's five teams fighting for three remaining places.
The home game with Brighton next Tuesday evening is massive but we must try and continue our fine form with a third away win on the trot at Crewe. Expect the side that started v Walsall to get another go with Lee getting the nod again above Robson-Kanu even if the boy Hal is fit. Black did look livelier than he has for a while so Grant to start on the subs bench. Tilly's forward options on that bench could be the most interesting part of the selection process. 2-0 to the Blues.
THE OPPOSITION
A disastrous defeat at Luton has left Crewe firmly in the relegation fight one point and one place above Gillingham, who then proceeded to beat Luton on Tuesday night, in the bottom four. At home they have won 7, drawn 6 but lost 7, scoring 22 but letting in 25. They beat Hartlepool 3-1 in their last fixture at Gresty Road, their first win in six, since then a good away draw at Walsall was thrown away at Kenilworth Road.
Former Blues loanee Dean Morgan, now at Crewe, has been spouting the usual stuff to the home faithful. The Luton frontman has scored only one goal in five for the Alex and is hoping to add to his tally. He told BBC Radio Stoke: "I want to be at my best to help keep this team in the division. I'm here to win, to score, to create and to stay up." Morgan sees his spell as another opportunity to put himself in the shop window. "Things have obviously got to change for myself and Luton, so being at Crewe is a great opportunity for me," said the former Reading man. "It'll be a tough game because Southend are a good side," said Morgan. But we are at home, and if the crowd get behind us, we should get the right result."
They have grabbed Burnley striker Steve Jones on loan for the rest of the season having previously played for them between 2001 and 2006, where he scored 44 goals. He had been set to move to the Railwaymen in January, until he suffered a knee injury. Jones has struggled to force his way into manager Owen Coyle's plans at Turf Moor. "Crewe and Huddersfield have been chasing him for the last couple of months, but he has been injured during that time," said Coyle. "He has now got a couple of reserve games under his belt, but he needs regular games. The question was does he stay here and continue to play in the reserves, or play at a good level with Crewe? So, we have decided he can go to Crewe on loan until the end of the season and then he will come back to us in pre-season, obviously still under-contract to ourselves and ready to give his all again."
Defender Julien Baudet continues to be Crewe's best performer on a regular occurrence.
Still, it's a loaness of Crewe's now with us that has first-team coach Steve Holland worried, fearing the prospect of striker Lee Barnard haunting his side's relegation fight. The former Tottenham frontman returns to the Alexandra Stadium with the in-form Blues on Saturday for a game the Alex can ill-afford to lose after Gillingham's 2-1 victory over Luton last night put them a point behind Crewe.
While Barnard managed only three goals during his injury-hit spell at Crewe before Christmas, he is already up to the five-goal mark in 11 appearances for the Shrimpers. His latest came last Saturday after he returned to the starting line-up and scored the only goal of the game against Walsall to extend his side's unbeaten run to nine. The 23-year-old had returned to White Hart Lane at the turn of the year, but was quickly snapped up on a permanent basis by promotion-chasing Southend.
"We won't give Lee any special attention," insisted Holland. "But there is always that likelihood ex-players come back to haunt you. Chris Dickson (Charlton loanee) came back here and scored a wonder goal for Gillingham that I am sure he'd never managed before. It helps that we know Lee's game, but he is a clever player and I'm not sure that will help us to stop him as he's got some ability in front of goal. If you create a chance for him, there's a good chance he'll take it. But it will be good to see him again because I enjoyed working with him."
Despite Gillingham's home win last night, Holland is confident his side have the upper hand in the final month if they can pick up three wins from their remaining five games. "I have looked at Gillingham's season so far and I don't think they've gained three wins out of five too often," he added. "As far as we are concerned, if we can get the victories we need then it is very much in our own hands."
Holland has been boosted by the news left-back Billy Jones is due to train again this week after a long lay-off following knee surgery. Danny Woodards is also fit after a neck problem suffered in the weekend defeat at Luton, but midfielder Neil Cox is some way off making his return. "Billy is training with us again this week, so he is getting closer. But while Neil is making progress, he's a couple of weeks off from returning," added Holland.
A report on that Luton game from the Crewe Guardian and the team that finished the match.
Crewe were hauled back into relegation danger after losing at League Two-bound Luton. If any Alex fans out there thought safety was a given, think again after what was occurring at Kenilworth Road. A lot is going to hinge on Nicky Maynard who bagged his ninth of the season to level things up in the second-half, last Saturday. And they can't allow those defensive blunders of old to creep back into their game.
Matthew Spring made Crewe pay for a terrible misunderstanding between Ben Williams and Danny Woodards after only four minutes. Brief hopes of a decent point were then extinguished when left-back Patrick Boyle conceded a poor spot-kick that Spring put away on 77 minutes. With five games left to prevent total disaster, Steve Holland needs his best 11 out there all firing.
The Alex boss was forced into a couple of key changes against Luton and it told. Crewe missed the workrate and presence of Tom Pope up there while Dean Morgan was barred from facing his facing his parent club. So former forward Steve Jones made his long-awaited return in an Alex shirt with Preston loanee Joe Anyinsah also drafted into the 4-3-3.
A decent start was completely blown away when Williams came off his line only to see Woodards clear the ball straight to Spring who smashed it into an empty net from 30-yards. One-time strike target Sam Parkin put a header just past the post and gave the defence all kinds of problems as Luton were boosted by their early lead. Both sides traded decent penalty claims with George Abbey and Spring surviving shouts for handball before the hosts wrapped up a solid 45 strongly. Paul McVeigh went close to a second and although Abbey's cross-cum-shot forced keeper Dean Brill into some work, Crewe were lucky to get to the interval with hope. Williams tipped another Spring effort around the post before they trundled off the pitch.
Despite an early effort for Maynard, it was same again as Spring continued to clock up the shot count with Luton in control. However the 21-year-old gave the Alex a sniff of salvation with his ninth of the season. Kenny Lunt's visionary pass down the middle was a reminder of years gone by and after sailing through several white bodies, Maynard latched on and netted against the run of play on the hour. A real revival, Crewe finally found some life.
Good work from Abbey set up Anyinsah for a dig across the face of goal while Johah put another chance straight into the arms of Nrill. Substitute Calvin Andrew turned momentum back in favour of Luton, curling one effort round the post before forcing Williams into a brilliant one-handed stop. Crewe crumbled on the resulting corner as Boyle was punished for a clumsy challenge on Charles and Spring stepped up to convert. Although Maynard almost connected on the volley, the hosts finished in good shape as both Spring and Charles almost inflicted further damage.
Crewe: Williams, Abbey, Boyle, Baudet, Woodards (McCready 72), Roberts, O'Connor, Lunt, Anyinsah (Bopp 84), S Jones (Moore 84), Maynard.
THE MATCHES
Played 27: WON 15 DRAWN 6 LOST 6
On top here and long may it continue, well until ten to five on Saturday for starters.
The first ever match was on Oct. 5 63 at the Hall, a 1-1 draw, Smith the scorer, playing them fairly regularly in Division 4 over the next three decades until Crewe's rise up the divisions, and then ours as they went down, meant we have only played them three times over a 21 year period since a 1-2 defeat away on Mar. 13 87, Hall for us.
Away from the home of football we have played the Railwaymen on 13 occasions, winning 6, drawing 3 and losing only 4, not bad odds then. In fact we won the very first away match, Conway and Woodley scoring in a 2-1 win on Valentine's Day 64. One stand out score was a 3-5 defeat on Jan. 28 70 when Chisnall(2) and Clayton scored three away but we still couldn't grab the points. Happier results were a double of 2-1 away wins in nine months. Apr. 17 71 saw Garner and Johnson score and on Jan. 15 72 it was Johnson again but with Taylor the other. Kellock and Shepherd were the scorers on Oct. 2 84 where we kept them out totally that night in a 2-0 win. We repeated this the last time we played them at Gresty Road, (or the Alexandra Stadium if you want to show off), on Jan. 12 91, Bretty Angell grabbing a double himself while helping to complete one for the team over Crewe.
The two other games over that long period were both at home and both wins. Sep. 1 90 saw an exciting 3-0 win in that promotion season; Benjy, Angell and a Martin penalty. The last time we played and possibly the first leg of another double was on Oct. 13 07, Barnard on loan for the away side, and another 3-0; Bailey, Hooper and a Leon Clarke belter of a penalty got the goals in a relatively easy victory on the day England beat France in Paris in the rugger World Cup.
THE OTHER FIXTURES (Sat. April 5, all 15.00 ko)
Brighton v Port Vale (bugger), Bristol Rvs. v Hartlepool, Carlisle v Yeovil, Huddersfield (Farewell Andy Ritchie) v Doncaster, Leyton Orient v Leeds, (come on Wayne), Millwall v Gillingham, Northampton v Luton, Notts. Forest v Cheltenham (you never know), Swansea v Bournemouth, Swindon v Oldham (pin of Arkells to Billy to finish Oldham off), Walsall v Tranmere (could be interesting).
THE GROUND
The other three stands are roughly of the same height, covered and all seated, but are rather small when compared to the Air Products Stand. So much so, that balls are regularly kicked out of the ground during a game. The newest of these smaller stands is the Advance Personnel Stand (previously known as the Gresty Road End), which is the home end of the ground. This replaced a former open terrace and seats around 900. Opposite is the Charles Audi Stand. This has some executive boxes at the rear, but the seating area is only opened for the bigger games. The Blue Bell BMW Stand at one side of the ground, has an unusual television/press gantry on its roof. It almost looks as if part of a portakabin was at some point bolted onto the roof and it looks a bit precarious. In the corner between the Blue Bell BMW & Charles Audi Stands is a large clock, whilst on the other side of the Blue Bell BMW Stand is a Police Control Box, keeping a close eye on the away contingent.
An unusual feature is the absence of dugouts, the teams instead are given a section of seating at the front of the Air Products Stand. You will also notice that the pitch is slightly raised above ground level. The ground is completed with a set of modern looking floodlights. I noted that on the Air Products side of the stadium additional lighting is present half way up the floodlight pylons. One assumes that the height of the new stand prevented enough light getting to the pitch and hence additional lighting needed to be subsequently added.
THE CAR
Plan on a three and a half journey driving just over 200 miles. At junction 21 of the M25 join the M1, signposted The North, Luton Airport, where you may find delays as there are some major roadworks further back between junctions 6a and 10.
Passing Watford Gap it's soon time to leave at junction 19 for the M6, signposted the North West, Coventry (North) and Birmingham. Keep in left hand lane at junction 3a, then at Junction 4 continue with the M6, signposted The North West. (Or at junction 4 continue forward onto the M42, signposted the North West M6 Toll, at junction 9 continue forward onto the M6 Toll, signposted the North West, Cannock, Lichfield. You pays your money.......).
Leave the M6 at junction 16, then at the first roundabout take the 1st exit onto the A500, signposted Crewe, Nantwich. A couple of miles down this road take the 3rd exit at the roundabout that will take you onto the A5020, signposted Crewe. Keep following the Crewe signs and just before you reach the island on Weston Road, you will see a sign pointing to the right which displays; 'Away Supporters On Street Parking'. This directs you to an industrial estate on the right of the road (you will also see the Volkswagen dealership, L C Charles on the front of it).
It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the ground from here. Or carry on until another roundabout comes up where the 1st exit signposted Nantwich will take you on to the A534, past the railway station, and the ground itself to try your luck on the street.
THE TRAIN
The ground is only a few minutes walk from the train station. As you come out of the Railway Station turn left and Gresty Road is down the road on your left.
THE PUB
There is a supporters clubhouse which will usually allow small numbers of away supporters in, but only if they arrive early before it fills up with home.
Arriving by car, there are two pubs along the road (Weston Road, A5020) that brings you into Crewe from the motorway. The Rookery Wood and the Brocklebank aren't bad, but tend to attract families and businessmen - depends what you want.
The Rookery Wood, (Weston Gate, Weston Road, CW1 6NE), is a huge pub in the 'Two For One' stable about 15 minutes walk from the stadium on the other side of the railway line. Family style hostelry with a Wacky Warehouse etc. On draught are Carling, Carlsberg Export, Fosters, Stella Artois, John Smiths Smooth, Guinness and Strongbow Cider.
Several pubs are situated along Nantwich Road, which runs down from the station. The Royal Hotel, opposite the Gresty Road turning, is a free house offering John Smiths, Websters and Kilkenny Irish Bitter. Crowded on match days, usually has doormen on duty and is an 'away' pub in the main - you can even sing in there! The Barrel is almost opposite the Royal. Recently refurbished, this is an American-style bar with pool, juke box and internet access! The Bank is opposite the Barrel that thinks it's the trendy place-to-be on weekend nights. The doormen on duty on matchdays don't appear to mind letting well-behaved away fans in. Carry on over the traffic lights and you'll discover a Whitbread's pub The Brunswick. The British Lion is a real ale venue a few hundred yards from the stadium at 58, Nantwich Road, towards the town centre. Does Tetley's Bitter and Dark Mild and a varying two beers from local micro breweries as guests. Finally, the Earl is less than ten minutes walk from the stadium. Has Sky Sports and Premiership Plus, 7 TV's, 2 plasma screens, a big screen, 2 pool tables and juke box. On draught are Carling, Fosters, Heineken, Kronenbourg, Stella Artois, John Smiths Smooth, Guinness and Strongbow Cider. There's a large car park with 120 spaces, beer garden and expect to see door staff.
I'm starting at the Borough Arms, again, a 15 minute walk from the ground, towards the northern edge of the town centre. Not the best looking pub from outside however once through the doors it's a welcoming pub, full of life and with a pleasant relaxed atmosphere. More important has the largest range of beers in Crewe, with nine changing real ales mainly from small outlets as well as two of their own brewed on the premises. Also carries a wide selection of Belgian bottled beers. Find it at 33, Earle Street, CW1 2BG.
THE HISTORY
The club was formed in 1877 and reputedly named after Princess Alexandra.(Some suggest that the decision to form the club was actually taken in a pub named after the Princess and the club was named after the pub!) They played their first ever match, against North Staffs, the same year, the match ended 1-1. In 1884, Crewe Alexandra's first match in the FA Cup was against Queens Park of Glasgow, losing 10-0.
Crewe were one of the founding members of Division 2 in 1892, having previously been members of the Football Alliance, but became a non-league side after only five seasons. The following year the club managed to sign all their players as professionals. They rejoined the Football League in the 1920s, during which time a new record of 15,102 packed into Gresty Road to watch Crewe entertain local rivals Stoke City. The Potters won the game 2-0. Crewe earned their first honours by winning the Welsh Cup in 1936 and 1937, before being barred from entering (not least since they were not in Wales). In 1936, Herbert Swindells scored his 100th League goal for Crewe Alexandra. He would go on to score a record 126 goals for the club - a record that still stands today.
1955 saw Crewe embark on a sequence where they did not win away from home for 56 matches. The dismal run ended with a 1-0 win at Southport. One of Crewe's most famous matches took place against Spurs in the FA Cup. A new record attendance of 20,000 saw lowly Crewe hold Spurs to a 2-2 draw. Bert Llewellyn and Merfyn Jones scored for the Railwaymen. In the replay, Tottenham won convincingly 13-2 - still a record defeat for the club. Llewellyn and Nev Coleman scored for Crewe at White Hart Lane.
1961 saw Crewe's most notable win in their history, Jimmy McGuigan's side defeated Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge. That particular Chelsea side contained former Crewe player Frank Blunstone, Jimmy Greaves, Peter Bonetti and Terry Venables. The Crewe goals were scored by Billy Stark and Barrie Wheatley. Spurs won by a more modest 5-1 in the Fourth Round. In 1963, Crewe gained promotion for the first time in their history with a 1-0 win over Exeter City. Frank Lord became the local hero, scoring the only goal in front a crowd of 9,807. Lord also holds the record for most hat-tricks for the club - he amassed eight hat-tricks during his time at Gresty Road.
A year later, Terry Harkin scored a record 35 league goals for a season. 1977 saw Tommy Lowry play his record-breaking 475th and last game for the Railwaymen. 1979 would see manager Warwick Rimmer's most notable signing when Bruce Grobbelaar joined Crewe and played his first match against Wigan Athletic. During the season he would score from the penalty spot against York City and kept 8 clean-sheets in his 24 matches played. In the same year the club went a record 15 matches without winning at Gresty Road. The period from the 1950s to the early 1980s were generally not a successful time for the Alex, and few would have argued with Michael Palin's comment, in the 1979 BBC Great Railway Journeys of the World documentary when, in a shot over Gresty Road filmed from the roof of the adjacent Rail House he described Crewe as "like those other railway towns, Swindon and Doncaster, possessed of a football team which is perpetually propping up the bottom of the Fourth Division".
It is believed that Crewe's fans were the first to ever sing the famous football song 'Blue Moon'. The song was sung to represent the gloomy days at Gresty Road during the mid-1900s. Since then Manchester City have copied the chant and it is often sung by their fans.
In June 1983, Crewe appointed Milan-born Dario Gradi as manager. At that time, Crewe had again just avoided being voted out of the Football League. Gradi quickly gained a reputation for developing young talent, Gradi let Steve Walters become the youngest ever player to pull on a Crewe shirt: aged just 16 years and 119 days he played against Peterborough United on 6 May. Gradi's efforts paid off in 1989 when Crewe won promotion to the Third Division. They went back down two years later, but were promoted again in 1994. In the same year, Neil Lennon became the first Crewe Alexandra player to gain an International cap for 60 years when he was selected to play for Northern Ireland against Mexico. Gradi then led his charges to the unprecedented height of Division One in 1997, after victory over Brentford in the Division Two playoff final, and kept his team there until 2002, despite a club income on which many more lowly clubs could not survive.
After one season in the Division Two the club were promoted back to Division One at the end of the 2002-03 season, having finished in second place; the first time the club had finished in the top two of any division.
Although managing to retain their place in the renamed Championship in the 2003-04 season, at the start of the 2004-05 season they were rated one of the likeliest teams to be relegated. In the event, they put in a good showing in the first half of the season, but after selling Dean Ashton to Norwich City for a record £3 million in the January 2005 transfer window, Crewe failed to win any more games until the final match of the season, when they defeated Coventry City 2-1 and narrowly escaped relegation on goal difference, Crewe having a GD of -20 and Gillingham -21.
The following year they were not so fortunate. Despite a good run towards the end of the season, they were relegated to League 1 at the end of the 2005-06 season.
Crewe were named the 'Most Admired Club' in the 2006 Football League Awards, sponsored by The League Paper and FourFourTwo Magazine. Prior to their 3-0 home defeat to Bradford, the club learnt that their previous chairman, Norman Rowlinson, had died of cancer at the age of 83. The club then held a minute's silence for Rowlinson at their next home game, against Huddersfield Town.
As of the summer of 2007, Gradi was the longest serving manager in English league football; he celebrated his 1,000th game in charge of Crewe on 20 November 2001 - an away fixture at Carrow Road, the home of Norwich City F.C., and completed 24 years in sole charge of the club, although assistant manager Neil Baker took temporary charge between 22 September and 17 October 2003 while Gradi underwent heart surgery. Crewe only managed one point while Baker was in charge.
During Gradi's control, the club gained a strong reputation for its youth policy, and gained official status as an FA Youth Academy. By concentrating on developing its own players the club remained profitable (a rare thing in lower division football at the time) by selling them on after they have gained experience with Crewe. The Academy is known to stress technical excellence, which accords with Gradi's aim to have his sides play attractive, passing football.
Players who passed through the ranks at Crewe include the England international players Geoff Thomas, David Platt and Rob Jones, Welshman Robbie Savage, and Northern Ireland internationals Neil Lennon and Steve Jones (Platt was the most successful, totalling more than £20 million in transfers and captaining the England team). All these were youngsters signed from other clubs, but Gradi also had considerable success in nurturing Crewe's own trainees - notably full England internationals Danny Murphy and Seth Johnson, under-21 England international Dean Ashton and Wales international David Vaughan.
On 20 April 2007 Crewe Alexandra announced that, as of 1 July 2007, Gradi would take up a new role as the club's Technical Director whilst gradually allowing newly appointed first-team coach Steve Holland control of the team.
(Thanks to all the usual suspects for their help in this article.)