Leeds Utd

Ground: Gresty Road

Facts: The club was formed in 1877 and reputedly named after Princess Alexandra (although some suggest that the decision to form the club was actually taken in a pub named after the Princess and the club was named after the pub).

Crewe were one of the founding members of Division 2 in 1892, having previously been members of the Football Alliance, but became a non-league side after only five seasons. They rejoined the Football League in the 1920s, during which time a new record of 15,102 packed into Gresty Road to watch Crewe entertain local rivals Stoke City.

The club earned their first honours by winning the Welsh Cup in 1936 and 1937, before being barred from entering (not least since they were not in Wales!!). In 1936, Herbert Swindells scored his 100th League goal for Crewe Alexandra. He would go on to score a record 126 goals for the club - a record that still stands today.

1961 saw Crewe's most notable win in their history, Jimmy McGuigan's side defeated Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge. The Chelsea side contained future England internationals Jimmy Greaves, Peter Bonetti and Terry Venables. In 1963, Crewe gained promotion for the first time in their history.

1979 would see Crewe's most notable signing when Bruce Grobbelaar joined the club. During the season he would score from the penalty spot against York City and kept 8 clean-sheets in his 24 matches played before being sold to Liverpool. The period from the 1950s to the early 1980s were generally not a successful time for the Alex, and the club often had to apply for re-election to the league (in the days before automatic promotion/relegation between the bottom division and the Conference).

1983 saw the appointment of former Wimbledon manager Dario Gradi after yet another re-election. Gradi gained a reputation for developing young talent, and his efforts paid off in 1989 when Crewe won promotion to the Third Division. They went back down two years later, but were promoted again in 1994.

In the same year, Neil Lennon became the first Crewe Alexandra player to gain an International cap for 60 years when he was selected to play for Northern Ireland against Mexico. Gradi then led his charges to the unprecedented height of Division One in 1997, after victory over Brentford in the Division Two playoff final, and kept his team there until 2002, despite the smallest crowds in the division.

After a further promotion and subsequent relegation in 2005/6 Crewe now remain in League 1 although Gradi stood down as manager in the summer of 2007 after 24 years as manager - he became technical director and was replaced by Steve Holland.

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. All these were youngsters signed from other clubs, but Gradi also had considerable success in nurturing Crewe's own trainees - notably England internationals Danny Murphy and Seth Johnson, under-21 England international Dean Ashton and Wales international David Vaughan.

Popey says: I'll never forget walking into the chip shop outside Gresty Road (..or Alexandra Stadium whatever you want to call it) before a Leeds United game and the owner saying "as I live and breathe I've had 'em all in here but never Eddie Gray". Once saw Paul Evans and Ben Muirhead score two belters for Bradford City who came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2.

Soundbite: Graham McGarry sports editor at BBC Radio Stoke gives us the lowdown on the Railwaymen: