A momentous day in the history of Crewe Alexandra FC. After much speculation by fans, the club have announced that the Football League’s longest-serving manager will take up the post of Technical Director on July 1 and that Academy manager Steve Holland will step up to become first-team coach.

After more than 1,200 games in charge of Crewe, Dario Gradi is Mr Alexandra. He has taken the club from being the butt of all jokes and bottom of the old Fourth Division to the lofty heights of Championship football.

In my lifetime I have known nobody else as manager of my football team, but from next season Holland will take over the running of first-team operations under the watchful eye of the great master.

As with most things at Crewe, the transition will happen gradually and Gradi will be on hand every step of the way to help Holland make the step up. Being manager of this club isn’t easy but I have every faith that Holland will be able to one day fill the great man's shoes.

The man stepping in to the limelight is no mug, director of the club's renowned Academy and responsible for the tutelage of one of our finest exports, Dean Ashton, he certainly has a pedigree that can be tapped in to. So much so that the club had to bring in the succession plan perhaps earlier than they anticipated after he so nearly left Crewe to take up a similar role with the Tottenham Hotspur Academy earlier this season.

The club valued Holland that highly and rightly moved quickly to secure his services; he probably would have got more money by being lured by the razzmatazz of the Premiership, but the chance of following in Gradi’s footsteps was an opportunity he simply couldn’t turn down. It won’t be easy for him, the mantra of following Dario's legacy will be hard. Football at this level is hard and the harsh reality of management is not always a bed of roses - just ask the league's longest-serving manager!

This season has probably been the hardest season in Gradi’s 24-year tenure. Following relegation, a loss of key personnel and falling gates, he has had to shoulder a barrage of criticism from the home faithful. The step taken this week makes sense; methodical, logical and visionary thinking by the board will hopefully ensure that the hard graft that Dario has put in over the years will continue long past when he finally relinquishes control.

I believe the man will never walk away from the club; Crewe Alexandra is his life and over the years he will begin to do less. He is, of course, a director of the club and going forward I see him being a strategic player in the boardroom and of course doing what he does best - coaching the stars of the future.

So it’s all change at Crewe and hopefully this move will be a positive one. Of course there is air of apprehension as we moved into unchartered territory. But I for one am confident that Gradi will be a great mentor to Holland and hopefully the duo can lead us back in to the promise land of the Championship.

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