When Crewe beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 on September 20, long-serving boss Dario Gradi described it as 'the best performance in 20 years'. He went into hospital for heart surgery soon afterwards and The Alex went on a run of four defeats, without even scoring a goal, whilst the fifth game saw Crewe squander a 2-0 lead to draw with Bradford.
Dario made a welcome return to the fold for Saturday's game v Derby County and Crewe promptly ran up their best score of the season to win 3-0. After the game Dario climbed the steep steps of the main stand at Gresty Road to give his customary press conference, and was remarkably spritely considering his recent ordeal. Even joking about the fluctuating heart rate he had endured during the game.
Someone in the assembled press corps wisely cautioned the Crewe boss to take his time and, showing he hadn't lost his sense of humour, Dario replied: "I intend to, don't you worry."
The resultant ripple of laughter from the gathered throng did, however, give Dario time to catch his breath and to check the special watch he was wearing that monitored his heart rate.
"I'm actually checking my pulse. I have got a heart rate monitor on, which I used to keep control during the game. I don't think it went above 90, during the match but I think I'm probably 106 at the moment."
Giving time for that digital read out to drop to around 88 beats per minute Dario was asked to assess his first game back in charge of a team that certainly missed his influence.
"It's very nice to be back and I think it was a game similar to the one in midweek, against Bradford. We got the goals, could have conceded, had a bit of a wobble but didn't concede and that last one was the big difference between the two games. We rode our luck a little bit there but then scored the third goal, which is what you have to do when you are under a bit of pressure."
But there was little pressure for Dario to endure when, late in the game, he sent Billy Jones into the fray to replace Justin Cochrane, and in playing those last few minutes the England Under 17 international became the youngest ever Crewe player to feature in Division One, at just 16 years and 177 days.
A surprise to many but not to the Alex manager, who has blooded so many youngsters in the Alex colours. Dario said: "We expected that we would play Billy at some stage in the current season but maybe not this early. I knew that Derby had a couple of 16 year olds in their side and when I asked him if he could handle one of them, Lee Holmes, and he said 'yes' I told him he would be on the bench."
Although many felt he was taking a chance on introducing Jones the Crewe manager felt it was safe, saying: "The game was won when we sent him on so I thought it was a good time to introduce him. I think he only had one kick of the ball but it will have been good for him and will have broken the ice."
Luckily for Dario one of the Derby players he felt did particularly well, Danny Dichio, was well marshalled by the Crewe defence, although it was significant when Dario spoke about the striker, who is on loan at Derby from West Brom, his heart monitor showed a rise in heartbeat from 88 to 90, so it had been of concern to the Crewe boss, who said: "Dichio made a big difference to them, from last week. That's as well as I have seen him play. He was a handful and they hadn't got that last week. He made a big difference to them."
And there is little doubt that the presence of Dario Gradi makes a big difference to Crewe Alexandra and although he wouldn't admit it himself, in a subliminal way, he underlined that when he revealed what he said to his players before his heart surgery and on the day they beat Derby.
"I just said to them in the dressing room that after my last game here before going into hospital the last words I said to you were 'are you going up or are you going down?' I bet to a man, because they had just slaughtered Nottingham Forest, they all thought they were going up.
"Before the Derby game I said 'you don't know where you're bloody going' so I have just asked the same question 'are you going up or are you going down'?
But did he get any answers? "Not yet but I think they are getting a bit bemused by it,"On a personal front was the Crewe manager happy to be back? "Yes, very ". The rest of football is happy, very happy, too.
