Crewe Alexandra F.C.

Formation and early years

Crewe Alexandra Football Club was formed in August 1877 as an offshoot of Crewe Alexandra Cricket Club (established in September 1866 by Thomas Abraham and other workers at Crewe locomotive works), and named after Alexandra, Princess of Wales (a German–Danish princess who had married Prince Albert Edward (later King Edward VII), and who would become Queen–Empress Alexandra in 1901). They were based at the Alexandra Recreation Ground in Crewe, adjacent to Crewe railway station, and played their first match against a side from Basford in North Staffordshire on 1 December 1877, drawing 1–1. In 1883, Crewe Alexandra's first match in the FA Cup was against Scottish club Queen's Park of Glasgow, losing 10–0. In February 1886, William Bell became the first Crewe player to win an international cap, playing for Wales against Ireland in Wrexham. In 1887–88, the club played 33 games (winning 20, drawing 5 and losing 8); the club also reached the FA Cup semi-finals, defeating Swifts, Derby County and Middlesbrough en route, before going out to Preston North End. In 1891, the football club split away from the cricket club—a step that was condemned by Francis Webb, chief engineer of the town's London and North Western Railway (LNWR) Crewe works, who was virulently opposed to professionalism in sport; following the schism, Webb and the LNWR said the company would "refuse to find employment in the Crewe Works for any professional football player", a…

League

Second Division (level 3) 2nd place promotion: 2002–03 Play-off winners: 1997 Fourth Division / Third Division / League Two (level 4) 2nd place promotion: 2019–20 3rd place promotion: 1962–63, 1993–94 4th place promotion: 1967–68, 1988–89 Play-off winners: 2012 Cup

Football League Trophy Winners: 2012–13 Welsh Cup Winners: 1935–36, 1936–37 Crewe Alexandra have never won a division title, and have only been division runners-up twice. In addition to play-off promotions, the club also achieved four promotions, all from the fourth tier, by third-place finishes in 1962–63 and 1993–94 and by fourth-place finishes in 1967–68 and 1988–89. Crewe's highest finishing league position was 11th in the second tier, the First Division in 1997–98. In the major cup competitions, Crewe reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1888; since then, they have twice reached the 5th round (losing against West Ham United in February 1991, and taking Everton to a replay in February 2002). Crewe have reached the third round of the League Cup ten times (1960, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008), losing 1–0 to Aston Villa in a replay at Villa Park in 1974, and taking cup holders Manchester United into extra time at Gresty Road in 2006 before losing 2–1. While Crewe is not in Wales, English clubs, usually from border areas, have participated by invitation in the Welsh Cup, which Crewe won twice, in 1936 and 1937. The club has won the Cheshire Senior Cup 16 times, most recently in…