Dario Gradi

Dario Gradi (born 8 July 1941) is an Italian-English former amateur football player, coach and manager.

Born to an Italian father (who died when Dario was still a child) and an English mother, Gradi moved to London, aged four, when his mother returned after the Second World War in 1945.

He attended Glyn Grammar School in Epsom, and trained as a teacher of physical education at what is now Loughborough University from 1960 to 1963 (where he played for the university's first XI football team, alongside Bob Wilson and Barry Hines), before returning to teach at his former school.

By this time he had already played as an amateur for Sutton United and for Tooting & Mitcham United in the early 1960s.

He was later capped once for England's amateur side (playing in the team's British Amateur Championship tie against Scotland in Dundee in September 1967).

He later rejoined Sutton United, playing in the FA Amateur Cup Final against North Shields in April 1969, and in the club's FA Cup 4th round tie against Leeds United in January 1970.

Gradi also played for Wycombe Wanderers, long before the club became fully professional.

After a period of teaching, Gradi became a London regional coach for the FA; this caused him to lose his amateur status and become ineligible to continue his playing career.

He had a spell coaching at east London's Senrab F.C., and was appointed assistant coach at Chelsea in 1971 at the age of just 29.

Gradi managed Sutton United from 1976 to 1977.

This was followed by coaching posts at Derby County (first team coach, 1977–78), and, later, a two-year spell at Leyton Orient (youth team coach, 1981–83).

He took over as manager of Wimbledon in January 1978, helping the Plough Lane side win promotion from the Football League Fourth Division in 1978–79, although they were relegated after only one season in the Third Division.

He entered into discussions with Portugal's Benfica over the vacant managerial spot in the 1980s, and was linked with the post of FA Technical Director in 1996.

His first major managerial success was achieved with Wimbledon after which he briefly managed Crystal Palace in 1981.

They were well on course for an immediate return to the Third Division when in February 1981 an offer came for Gradi to manage struggling First Division side Crystal Palace.

Palace chairman Ron Noades had only recently left Wimbledon himself and saw Gradi as the ideal man to save his new purchase from relegation.

Gradi's time at Selhurst Park was not a success, as he failed to save Crystal Palace from relegation, and he resigned the following November after a disappointing start to the 1981–82 season.

Gradi had a 24-year first spell as manager of Crewe between 1983 and 2007.

After a spell coaching at Leyton Orient, Gradi returned to management on 9 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 Football Conference.

His first season signings included Mark Leonard from Tranmere Rovers, John Crabbe from Hereford United and David Pullar from Exeter City as Gradi looked to build an academy structure to develop players that could be sold to help fund the player development programme.

Among his first transfer successes were Dave Waller (sold to Shrewsbury Town), Gary Blissett (sold to Brentford) and Geoff Thomas (sold to Crystal Palace); 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.

Gradi signed a then unheard-of ten-year contract with Crewe.

They went back down again two years later, but in 1994 won promotion to 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.

Awarded an MBE for services to football in 1998, Gradi was stripped of the award in 2023 for failing to protect children from sexual abuse.

By 2002 he was one of just two managers, the other being Alex Ferguson, to have held their position since before 1990.

He later joined the club's Board of Directors.

Gradi's contract with Crewe was one of the most controversial in the Football League; it included a clause giving him a percentage of the profit on any player sold to another club.

His keen eye for spotting and rearing young talent is what has gained him some recognition in football.

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.

After two further spells as Crewe manager, he finally stepped down in November 2011 to focus on the club's youth system, after managing Crewe in 1,359 first team games.

In late 2016, as the United Kingdom football sexual abuse scandal expanded, Gradi's roles at Crewe at the time of alleged offences in the 1980s and at Chelsea in the early 1970s were the subject of media scrutiny.

The Chelsea allegations led to Gradi being suspended by The Football Association in November 2016.

Gradi denied any wrongdoing and in February 2017 was planning an appeal against his FA suspension.

He was associated for more than 36 years with Crewe Alexandra, where he was variously manager, director of football and director of the Academy, until October 2019.

Gradi played as an amateur for clubs in the London area (and won an England amateur cap); he then took on various coaching roles in the region.

However, he was heavily criticised by Chelsea's inquiry report, published in August 2019, and in the FA's Sheldon Report, published in March 2021 - when the FA said Gradi (who had retired from all football roles in October 2019) was "effectively banned for life" from football "for safeguarding reasons".

While accepting he had been suspended indefinitely from certain activities, Gradi said he had not been banned.