John Huxley has been Head Groundsman at Crewe Alexandra for the past thirty years. He claims it is “the best bloody job in the world”. Not averse to the odd expletive, he talks to Pitchcare’s Laurence Gale MSc about his time with The Railway Men.
C
rewe Alexandra Football Club were formed in 1877, as Crewe Football Club, when they
separated from the successful Crewe Cricket Club. They reputedly added the name ‘Alexandra’ after Princess Alexandra, The Queen Consort to Edward VII. However, many believe that they are named after a pub that, itself, was named after the Princess. The club were formed out of the needs of the working men of this famous ‘railway’ town and their nickname, not surprisingly is ‘The Railway Men’. The ground is situated adjacent to the main line station. They played their first ever match at Gresty Road against North Staffs drawing 1-1. Gresty Road is still their home although it is now, officially, known as the Alexandra Stadium. However, few fans call it by its new name. In 1926 a record crowd of 15,102 packed into the ground to watch Crewe entertain local rivals Stoke City. This record was surpassed in 1955 when they took on Spurs in the FA Cup. 20,000 watched them hold Spurs to a 2-2 draw. They
were to lose the replay 13-2, still their record defeat. Crewe are renowned for producing players that go on to play at the highest level. Amongst them are Stan Bowles, Neil Lennon, David Platt, Robbie Savage and Dean Ashton. This breeding ground of success has seen the club gain official status as an FA Youth Academy.
Much of this recent success has
centred around long-time manager, Dario Gradi, who managed the club from 1983 until 2007 when he moved sideways to become Technical Director. He is one of the most respected men in the Football League. Equally respected is their Head
Groundsman, John Huxley, who was appointed in 1978 when he was poached from Stoke City where he had been groundsman for nine years. He is one of the longest serving groundsmen in the industry and is regarded as a ‘bit of a character’.
John has no official qualifications but has learned his trade by ‘doing the job’. “The best bit of advice I was ever
given” he says “was ‘learn as much as you can, as quick as you can and you’ll be alright’. I’ve been here thirty years and I still consider it the best bloody job in the world.” He recites fondly some of the tricks managers got up to win games and make the pitch more difficult for the opposition. This often centred around leaving too much grass on or over watering. As John says, this was not difficult in the days of heavy soil based pitches. After beating Bolton on a very heavy pitch John recalls, “After the match the then assistant manager of Bolton, Phil Brown, came up to me and said ‘I hope you’ve got a lot of money?’ I said to him ‘no, I’m skint, why?’ ‘Because,’ he said ‘we've had to call the club doctor to two of our players who are suffering from crocodile bites!’ One of the biggest problems he has is warm ups. “Often the opposition teams do not play ball (excuse the pun) and they tend to abuse the pitch with fast feet routines” he says. “Also, goalkeepers seem to take particular
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