Dario Gradi MBE (born 8 July 1941) is an Italian-born English football manager and former player. He has been associated for more than 30 years with Crewe Alexandra, with whom he is currently the Director of Football and also Director of the academy.Gradi had a 24-year first spell as manager of Crewe between 1983 and 2007. He stepped down from his managerial role in 2007, handing first-team responsibilities to Steve Holland, and became technical director.