Dario Gradi
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Dario Gradi MBE (born Milan, Italy, 8 July 1941) has become one of English football's most respected managers and coaches. Born to an Italian father (who died when Dario was a small child) and an English mother, he moved to London when his mother returned after the Second World War.
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Playing career
Gradi never achieved stardom as a player (excepting an FA Cup appearance for non-league Sutton United F.C. against Leeds United F.C. in 1970).
Coaching career
Gradi embarked on an off-pitch career as a coach. His first positions were at Chelsea F.C., followed by Derby County F.C., Wimbledon F.C., and Orient.
Management career
He managed Wimbledon F.C. and Crystal Palace, before he eventually settled at Crewe, where he was appointed manager of Crewe Alexandra F.C. in June 1983. He took the club from the bottom of the then Fourth Division to the Second Division (since renamed The Football League Championship) by the late 1990s, becoming the League's longest serving manager in the process, long outlasting the majority of others in such jobs. He has since joined the Board of Directors.
His keen eye for spotting and rearing young talent is what has gained him greatest recognition in Football. Proteges of his coaching at Crewe include many top players past and present, such as David Platt, Geoff Thomas, Rob Jones, Danny Murphy and Seth Johnson (all England Internationals), Welsh internationals Robbie Savage and David Vaughan and Northern Ireland internationals Neil Lennon and Steve Jones. A host of other players have achieved caps below 'full' international status - eg: schoolboy, under-18, under-21, etc; for example, current West Ham striker Dean Ashton.
Tributes
Gradi was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2004 in recognition of his impact as a manager in the English game.
The British dance music group Dario G is named in his honour, as is a street in Crewe, Dario Gradi Close. In 2003 he was made an Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich.
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