COMPARE AND CONTRAST

By Louise Taylor in the Guardian

Longevity

Sir Alex Ferguson is days away from his 20th anniversary of becoming manager at Manchester United but Dario Gradi has been in charge of Crewe for 23 years and tonight's home encounter against United will be his 1,198th game since taking over in 1983. They are the two longest-serving managers in English football.

Early days

Both born in 1941, Gradi, 65, is five months older than Ferguson. While Gradi's birthplace was Milan - he moved to London as a four-year-old after the death of his Italian father - Ferguson is a son of Govan. More academic, Gradi played non-league football for Sutton United and Tooting & Mitcham before going to Loughborough University to complete a degree in physical education. He played in a university first XI with Bob Wilson, the future Arsenal goalkeeper, and Barry Hines, author of the novel A Kestrel for a Knave. Ferguson, meanwhile, was combining life as an apprentice tool worker in a Clydeside shipyard with part-time football. As Gradi qualified as a teacher in 1964, Ferguson turned pro and played for Dunfermline, Rangers, Falkirk and Ayr. Management at East Stirling, St Mirren, Aberdeen and Manchester United followed. Gradi quit teaching at 29 and became assistant manager at Chelsea. Managerial and coaching positions at Sutton, Derby, Wimbledon, Crystal Palace and Leyton Orient followed before the Crewe job. He has resisted all temptations to leave, even turning down Benfica on one occasion.

Honours

Ferguson may possess a knighthood but Gradi has the MBE - as well as the distinction of a band, Dario G, being named in his honour. And town planners in Crewe have named one suburban street Dario Gradi Close. Gradi took over a Fourth Division side and, despite money being tight, turned them into a Championship side while overseeing the redevelopment of Gresty Road and a five-fold increase in attendances. Crewe are currently in League One. Ferguson has won too many trophies to mention at Old Trafford, with his 1999 treble the undoubted highlight.

Midas touch with young players

Gradi's famous Crewe graduates include David Platt, Geoff Thomas, Neil Lennon, Dean Ashton, Danny Murphy, Rob Jones, Seth Johnson, Craig Hignett and Robbie Savage. Among Ferguson's homegrown protégés are David Beckham, the Neville brothers, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt.

Agents

Ferguson's son Jason was once an agent and United have paid millions of pounds to football's fixers in commission fees down the years - Louis Saha's representative, for instance, received £750,000 to seal the striker's move from Fulham. Gradi's Crewe only made their first such - and, at £5,000, appreciably more modest - payment this year. That fee went to Charles Collymore, the agent of the Algerian Madjid Bougherra, who joined Crewe on a sixth-month loan from French second division side FC Gueugnon.

Mutual admiration

Gradi on Ferguson: "There's no feeling like building something. Sir Alex Ferguson has not just been a first-team manager. He has built a good club and I've built a good club too. They can say what they like about us but we've both built something." Ferguson on Gradi yesterday: "It's quite easy for me because I've got the motivation of being at a big club with big games every week but Dario has had to be there for over 20 years producing and selling players from his conveyor belt of talent. They've had to rely on that for financial stability but they've sold players time and time again and he still goes in every morning rebuilding. It's a fantastic job he's done, quite amazing. I'm sure he could have left Crewe millions of times so it just impresses me how lucky Crewe are to have a manager like him. He enjoys the challenge of producing young players and I think that is his main motivation."

Lifestyle

Ferguson and his wife Cathy have three sons; Gradi has never married and has no children. A genuine workaholic, Gradi rarely takes days off, let alone holidays and has insisted that he is "bored after about two-and-a-half days in the sun". Ferguson enjoys sunshine breaks, likes to summer in the south of France and enjoys a bet. He is the proud owner of a well-stocked wine cellar but his love affair with horseracing turned sour over the well documented Rock of Gibraltar affair.

Pastoral care

Infamous for once breaking up a players' party Lee Sharpe was hosting, Ferguson has always known too much about his charges for their peace of mind but, lacking staff to delegate to, Gradi has gone beyond the call of duty to ensure his players' welfare. When, for instance, Seth Johnson moved up to Crewe's academy from rural Devon at 14 and lodged with a local couple Gradi was constantly on the phone to reassure Johnson's anxious mother, a single parent, about her son's happiness and progress and he remains a firm family friend.

Two sides of Cheshire

While Ferguson inhabits the millionaire-peopled, designer-clothed Cheshire currently portrayed in the television drama Goldplated, Gradi's Crewe - a town founded on the fortunes of the Grand Junction Railways company - remains an anorak-wearing trainspotter's paradise. They may be in the same county but to the members of the perma-tanned, perma-highlighted "Cheshire set" Alderley Edge and Prestbury are the centre of the universe and Crewe might as well be a foreign country.