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"I wasn't 100 per cent sure what the award was for! But when Gordon (Taylor) rang me up and explained it was a great honour. I have had one or two honours in the past couple of year - including going to Buckingham Palace and being given the freedom of Crewe - but this probably one of the proudest moments of my footballing life."
Twenty-one years, five promotions, two relegations, Murphy, Platt, Lennon, Johnson, Savage, Academy & First Division football was the usual tribute the PFA paid. Though after all that he's built he still has ambitions, the 62 year old explains why he's been at Crewe for 21 years:
"I work for good people and the supporters are good so there is no real aggro around the place. I'd love to go to West Ham and be 3-0 ahead after 20 minutes rather than be 3-0 down. That is one of my ambitions."
One of the more know Dario stories is the way Seth Johnson rose from a 14 year old playing on Dawlish beach to becoming a £7million signing for Leeds United and a England player, and Dario still enjoy's telling it:
"We literally picked Seth Johnson up off a beach in Dawlish and he had no chance. He has done really well and it is great, especially after telling his mum that he needed to come down as a 14-year-old to Crewe. He made that sacrifice and is now getting the rewards. He has just bought a Porsche and I have bought an Aston Martin and when he came round recently I asked him why he hadn't bought an Aston Martin. He replied: "They are an old man's car!""
Dario is a true great and deserves every award going. Long may his reign continue at Crewe.
"Dario Gradi's a football genius!"