Danny Murphy, Crewe’s heroic loan ranger

Have Crewe Alex ever made a decent loan signing?, The Sentinel’s website, somewhat harshly, asks.

Apart from Kenny Lunt, who recently returned to the struggling club from Sheffield Wednesday, where he is surplus to requirements, yes they have.

Perhaps in recent years, no-one has particularly stood out, but it hasn’t been all bad.

In particular, casting my mind back to the 1998/99 season, Danny Murphy was a huge success.

He had been sold to Liverpool after helping Crewe win promotion to the old first division, but agreed a temporary deal to come back, after failing to secure a first team place at Anfield.

At the time, Crewe were rock bottom of the league and points adrift. Things looked bleak. Murphy came back to Gresty Road and transformed the whole season.

Playing at the apex of midfield, his creativity sparked an amazing revival. The speed of St Vincent international Rodney Jack had been without direction before Murphy’s return. But, with Crewe’s returning play-maker able to pick out Jack at will, Alex’s fortunes soon changed.

Murphy scored a crucial goal against fellow relegation strugglers Oxford and inspired his team mates to escape relegation, to survive in league one for another year. Seth Johnson was another key player that year – he was offered the chance to go to Derby for £1 million, but turned it down to help Crewe survive. A remarkable display of loyalty which is often lacking in the modern game.

As for Murphy, after his relegation heroics, he returned to Liverpool, where he won a starting place in the first team, scored numerous winning goals against arch-rivals Manchester United, and went on to play for England. He is still a star performer today, for Fulham, who he captains. And judging by his recent performance as a pundit on Match of the Day, could have a career in the media when he hangs up his boots.

Thank’s for everything Danny.

Steve Holland departs Crewe Alex

This morning we learned that Crewe Alex FC had sacked its manager for the first time since 1983.

After a dismal record of just 19 wins out of 72 games, Steve Holland was sacked as first team coach by chairman Steve Bowler.

In his place, Dario Gradi, ‘Mr Crewe’, returns to take charge – the boss who steered Crewe through all its glory years and oversaw the rise of talents like Danny Murphy, David Platt, Neil Lennon, Robbie Savage, Dean Ashton and Seth Johnson.

Personally, I feel sorry for Steve. He is a good coach who has been groomed for years to take over from Dario. He took charge of the youth teams with great success for many years, before finally becoming manager.

I remember watching Crewe’s U17 side play some superb football, with a youthful Dean Ashton banging in the goals, brilliantly coached by Holland.

But in the end, results count. I understand Steve is talking to the board, and there is a reasonable possibility he could return to his old job. I hope so. He’s a nice man – if a bit of a Dario clone when giving interviews – and a talented coach. He’s part of the family at Crewe.

The trouble is, Crewe have no leader on the pitch. The current crop of youngsters don’t have the talent of earlier sides. There is no Ashton, Platt, Lennon, or Savage. Or a new Kenny Lunt, Steve Foster or Gareth Whalley.

Now, the search is on to find a permanent replacement. Former players like Craig Hignett and David Platt could be in line to come back to Gresty Road. Hignett is untried, and Platt’s managerial career has been a bit of a disappointment. He would stick to Crewe’s passing game, but I wouldn’t like to see him return. I met first met Platt when he was a player, just after his move to Aston Villa, when I was a young student dreaming of being a sports writer. He was a really nice bloke, very friendly and easy to talk to. I met him a couple of times years later when he returned from Italy to manage Nottingham Forest, and I was a freelance sports writer. I don’t know what had happened to change his attitude, but he was rude, miserable and aggressive.

Of course, if he did manage Crewe and kept them up, he could be as rude, miserable and aggressive as he likes and I wouldn’t care.

So, until Sven Goran Erikssondecides to take a multi-million pound contract at Crewe, I just hope Dario can return to work some of his magic and get Crewe climbing back up the table again.