http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 461846.stm

certainly different from wan-kers like Ferguson etc who say the players at Man U etc "deserve" their money

Gradi has gone up even more in my estimation - a real football man, but a dying breed

I fully agree, I read that at work and goes to show a real footballing head to a real money man .... Gradi vs. Scolari
Gradi WANTED his team to do well. Good man
Scolari WANTED money over the team doing well. tvvat

Over rated - lovely bloke and because he's hung around such a long time everyone jumps on the 'we love Garadi' bandwagon. But his track record of producing quality players pales into insignificance I think when compared to West Ham (for instance). Love the bloke and agree with everything he says but Garadi is a bit of an urban myth really. Exhibit a) David Platt!

What Gradi did far outweighs anything West Ham, yes West Ham for fucks sake, have done in the same period

West Ham can pick and choose who they want in their academy and spend hundreds of thousands on player development, Crewe couldn't

In addition Fat Frank and Big chinned Joey Cole didn't get to a semi final in the World Cup, David Platt did, not too bad for a bloke who was playing 4th Division football a few seasons previous

Whatever, the fact is that Crewe, you (Leeds) and ourselves are all in the same division now.

Aye, but it's an open secret why Gradi has never got a job at a bigger club innit.

Producing good footballers wasn't the only reason that he was interested in the youth team...

Who are the stars that have came off the Gradi production line then?

Platty?
Ashton?
Danny Murphy?

Them 3 alone are a fantastic achivement for such a small club

He is a GREAT manager Mr WLWH - you are WAY off the mark there. A club that size had no right to compete with, and regularly beat clubs with 20,000 plus fan bases in the Championship. Not just for a year or two - they spent at least 6/7 years up there in total. Great stuff, and an inspiration to all lower league clubs it CAN be done. They were the proof, and dismissed the notion that "clubs like Hartlepool" etc can't get there and stay for a few seasons.
Dario Gradi = legend.
I was at that 8-0 game, yes we were awful, but there's no disguising how good their team was. They would have beaten 50% of Premier League teams that night, believe me.

'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

Gradi gets no applause from me!

I still remember back in the 80's after Crewe had won at Pools he said something along the lines of:-

Hartlepool is one of those places you've got to go to, do your job, and get out as quick as you can

but, at the time he was correct!! If I didn't live here back then, I wouldn't have wanted to hang around either!!! It's got a lot more going for it today, same as a lot of other places traditionally not a pleasant place to live.

Fair enough perhaps for me and you to say Parmo, but they're hardly the words of a gracious victor!

The retort would be as to whether Crewe was any better?

oh he obviously must have had those dark glasses on when he was at work all week. Crewe is a shithole!!

I think the reference to Seth Johnson makes my case, that and the list of celtic internationals .

Hackney Marshes not Crewe has the best track record for nurturing talent surely

Garadi has been a great lower league manager it's true - proper football guaranteed from his teams.

To be fair though, its not Gradi's fault Leeds were stupid enough to pay him something like £25000 a week

What fun Sometimes you fear for the future of good debate in the UK

Point about Seth of course is that any number of clubs have produced ordinary players just like him and the assorted Celts who are cited as internationals but would never have made the England squad. Scunthorpe academy is surely the best in the lower leagues given that Keegan made Euro player of the year and actually won real trophies rather than Platt like plaudits for doing very little.

Fear what you like mate.....

You are correct about Seth and Curly Kev, just as much as I am about Leeds being mug enough to panic buy the ordinary spud in the first place

I recall no panic only a foolish decision.

But whether LUFC paid over the odds for Seth has little relevance to a debate about Gradi's genius. Seth is an ordinary, injury prone player who negotiated a great deal with LUFC. He's not the first and I dare say he won't be the last. The fact that he took LUFC for a ride and gave you such pleasure in the process does not make a case one way or the other for Gradi who remains for me a bit of an urban myth, an urban myth who presumably dipped out of more challenging jobs at some point.

You're right!, it gave me great pleasure, I nearly pissed mesen with the laughing

Identifying the best £ for £ managers is always tricky. I have no problem with his performance as a manager for Crewe only with the media hype about the endless stream of top players.

Do you know the craic about Seth Johnson's contract negotiations with Ridsdale Mr Heat?

Apparently Johnson was after about £20k a week and he and his agent had decided to push hard and not accept anything less. So when Ridsdale offered £25k as a starting point they both laughed. However, thinking that they were laughing cos it wasn't enough Ridsdale immediately bunged another £10k a week on and said that it was his final offer. I don't think that they could sign quick enough.

It always makes me smile when I recount this to the Leeds fans I work with and then see them cry into their Tetleys Bitter


Risdale and O'Leary, possibly in the top ten of footballing bounders?

I actually feel a little bit sorry for Cardiff with Risdale there, hes already screwing them with Hasselbanks, Fowlers wages. Another bankrupt club looming imo.

Mr Ripper - I think it' true to say that even Seth and his agent deny that little story. To your eternal credit though you have exaggerated the money wanted/offered by less than most. But Leeds fans crying in their Tetley's is probably stretching it a bit far Talbot.

I don't know about you WLWH, but a fair few of the Leeds fans still can't let go, its the FL/FA/BMC/RAC to blame for the points deduction, its me to blame because I'm jealous of Leeds United, and a multitude of reasons other then Kuddly Ken tried to be a clever bounder

Not me mate - points deductions are not the way to deal with poor housekeeping by hopeless directors but I had the time of my life last season, a fantastic weekend in London with the best fans in the world and we live to fight another day with a manager we all love. We also have a promotion party booked 25th April to which you are all invited