FM09: The Official Crewe Alexandra Thread

Founded in 1877, Crewe Alexandra are a professional English club currently playing in Coca-Cola League 1. The club play their home games at the Alexandra Stadium and possess top class training facilities and a good youth set-up. The Crewe reserve team play at Reaseheath. The club is affectionately known as The Railwaymen and retains a fierce rivalry with Stoke City.

The club enjoyed probably their best spell of success during the 1930s. Although now enduring a seventy-one year barren spell, having not won a competition since 1937, The Railwaymen still have a history of which they can be justly proud. Crewe finished runners-up in the English 3rd tier for the only time in 2003, and won the Welsh Cup in 1936 and 1937.

Crewe Information:

Legends: None

Icons: Dario Gradi, Dean Ashton, Danny Murphy

Favoured Personnel: Luke Varney, Rob Hulse, Neil Lennon, Seth Johnson, Madjid Bougherra, Robbie Savage, Rodney Jack

Fierce Rivals: Stoke

Other Rivals: Port Vale, Stockport, Chester, Wrexham, Cardiff

Stadium Name: The Alexandra Stadium

Stadium Capacity: 10,153 (all seater)

Crewe Playing Squad (Preferred position in brackets):

Goalkeepers:

1 Steve Collis

13 Adam Legzdins

21 Stuart Tomlinson

Defenders:

2 Danny Woodards (DR)

3 Billy Jones (DL)

5 Daniel O'Donnell (DC)

6 Julien Baudet (DC,c)

14 Chris McCready (DC)

15 George Abbey (DR)

28 Scott McManus (DL)

30 John Brayford (DR)

Midfielders:

4 Steve Schumacher (MC)

7 Eugen Bopp (MC)

8 Michael O'Connor (MC,vc)

11 Joel Grant (MR)

12 Ben Rix (MC)

16 Jake Livermore (MC,on loan from Tottenham)

17 Byron Moore (MR)

18 Mark Carrington (MC)

22 Colin Daniel (ML)

23 James Bailey (MC)

24 Luke Murphy (MC)

26 Chris Clements (MC)

29 Ashley Westwood (MC)

Strikers:

9 Anthony Elding

10 Calvin Zola

19 Tom Pope

20 Shaun Miller

27 Clayton Donaldson

Strengths:

* Good 1st-choice back four

* Good options for forwards

Weaknesses:

* Lack of centre back cover

* Lack of quality left midfielder

signed rodrigo possebon, james chester and fabio all on loan from man utd on the demo. how is everyone else doing?

got fabio as well left side is a real problem .... got dave brammer (old crewe boy for free from millwall) and a guy called juha hakola(awesome).

team seems to work really well with direct passing up to zola, if i try to slow the game down against crap teams i get humped tho

hakola is a player that i looked at after the transfer window had ended as a recommendation from the forum. will you continue the demo save or start a new save once you get fm09?

I have had a game as Crewe and highly recommend Miguel Civasco and Tordoya both were brilliant signings and cost less than 100k. Miguel Cevasco in particular has been awesome high average rating always seems to play brilliant as a DM or a CM with defensive instructions. The GK need to be replaced in my opinion I got Brian Murphy after he was mentioned by Seb in the lower league legends thread. Also loaned in Lansbury from Arsenal and in the full game will try to bring in a striker to partner Zola although I have found Elding to score more than Zola so far. Mascio is worth signing aswell also if you aim for the lowest expectation of consolidate then ask for more transfer money you end up with more to spend than if you say top half and ask for more, bit strange really.

On FM08 I managed to take Crewe to the very top won the quad in 2017-2018 season and had a 45k new stadium. Hoping to repeat this on FM09. I will be starting a new game as them once the full game is out as I cant really get into the demo and am just using it to find the better players and formations. In all honesty there is not a single player who is good enough to past the championship and very few who will be able to play in the championship. To get the the promised land of the prem eventually you will have to replace every player. On FM08 only Billy Jones lasted and played in the prem for my team.

Lets hope we can do better in FM than in real life. Well done on starting the Railwaymen thread, I hope more people will play as Crewe this season as its a really enjoyable game.

it helps that i've started the thread now rather than 2 months before the new game in the series is released.

hakola is a player that i looked at after the transfer window had ended as a recommendation from the forum. will you continue the demo save or start a new save once you get fm09?

new game .... i like to change to another league after a few seasons, but always keep my crewe team going in a different save

has anyone ever had a regen from crewe that ended up as good as a dean ashton? I'm always a bit disappointed (although you start with a good looking keeper in the demo)

which one is that? collis?

can't remember his name (i've deleted the demo now to get some uni work done before the full game comes out) he was in the under 18's (aged 15 i think) and appeared both times i started a demo game

When I played as Sunderland on FM08 I got a regen DL from Crewe that had a 193 PA which eventually made him the best left back in the world, other than that never had anyone that good really.

anyone got the full game and started as crewe?

not yet...

soon though

Yeh I hav, 16 games in and im 22nd, goin pretty bad buh things are gettin better. my own fault really cos i wasted my transfer budget on players which werent good enough.

who did you buy and sell in the first transfer window?

I'm from the US and just randomly picked Crewe because I liked their name and they looked like an interesting team in league 1. I also liked their training facilities for that league.

I'm currently in 3rd position after 24 games. I chose winner for my budget and have picked up a ton of help.

GK -- Junior Fernandez

DL -- Babayaro

DC -- Tordoya, Caceres

DR -- Laure

MC -- Hendry Thomas, Mascio, Bangura (All must buys, IMO)

AML -- Luisma

AMR -- Hakula (as mentioned, awesome buy)

ST -- Injac, Omladic

Another young striker I picked up in the first window is Pluchino Galuppo. Top notch talent and only paid 10k for him.

A ST named Kadlec became available in December for only 1K and he's a premier quality 16 year old. N'Gossan is a must buy in January if he's still cheap and available.

haven't got fm09 yet but congrats on success so far. kutgw.

I'm from the US and just randomly picked Crewe because I liked their name and they looked like an interesting team in league 1. I also liked their training facilities for that league.

I'm currently in 3rd position after 24 games. I chose winner for my budget and have picked up a ton of help.

GK -- Junior Fernandez

DL -- Babayaro

DC -- Tordoya, Caceres

DR -- Laure

MC -- Hendry Thomas, Mascio, Bangura (All must buys, IMO)

AML -- Luisma

AMR -- Hakula (as mentioned, awesome buy)

ST -- Injac, Omladic

Another young striker I picked up in the first window is Pluchino Galuppo. Top notch talent and only paid 10k for him.

A ST named Kadlec became available in December for only 1K and he's a premier quality 16 year old. N'Gossan is a must buy in January if he's still cheap and available.

Not much faith in the original squad then?! Not played as crewe in 09 yet but Michael O'Connor and Billy Jones were pretty decent for me in 08.

Yeh I hav, 16 games in and im 22nd, goin pretty bad buh things are gettin better. my own fault really cos i wasted my transfer budget on players which werent good enough.

sounds like real life!!

Finished me season the other nite in 19th and survived by 6 points. Close call lol. Just bought douglas from leeds for 6k tho :O !!! Got2 say thanks 2 big michael o'connor tho, he basically single handedly kept me up in the second half of the season

has any one made any decent loan signings?

What do you reckon to that team, played one game in my second season so far (won it).

Just in need of a clinical striker tbh, any suggestions?

Went to watch Crewe today and after seeing them get thrashed makes me want to have a go soon. Soon as I can get Sunderland into the champions league I will get started soon.

has any one made any decent loan signings?

fabio and welbeck from man utd.

Went to watch Crewe today and after seeing them get thrashed makes me want to have a go soon. Soon as I can get Sunderland into the champions league I will get started soon.

So did i lad, id stopped going the past month because i hated Holland so much, but when king Dario was appointed caretaker i was hoping for abit of the old magic lol

So did i lad, id stopped going the past month because i hated Holland so much, but when king Dario was appointed caretaker i was hoping for abit of the old magic lol

It was even worse today than with Holland lol. Then again if Grants shot had gone in instead of hitting the bar we might have gone on to win.

Tordoya is a great CB for Crewe is very cheap and scored loads of freekicks on the demo. I have trouble finding good strikers for Crewe might loan Freddie Sears on my Sunderland game he scored bags of goals in League 1.

hi just finished my first season with crewe finished forth and went up through play offs so championship here we come.

does anybody have any suggestions for signings in the second season realli need a new striker? Ive got botero and a few other back up strikers but no1 thats gonna get me 20-30 a season.

hi just finished my first season with crewe finished forth and went up through play offs so championship here we come.

does anybody have any suggestions for signings in the second season realli need a new striker? Ive got botero and a few other back up strikers but no1 thats gonna get me 20-30 a season.

Nope sorry i'm having the same problem, ive got my eye on Sam Vokes but i need to raise about £1mill to bring him in:(

try to loan someone like evans (man city) or nemeth (liverpool). not got that far myself but i feel that they will do well in the championship.

yeh i got alot of bolivians and peruvians all coming along nicely but havent signed hardly anyone in this transfer window and ive offloaded lots of my players i didnt want like elding and zola expecting to get new players in but just hasnt happened. I find its alot harder to get work permits second season i dont no why.

Will have to try this game soon sounds like a very interesting prospect indeed, living in Crewe sort of helps things aswell, although atm they are a god-awful team.

i'm mid-table with 5 games to go. will include screenies of squad and table after i've finished. how's everyone else doing?

I'm from the US and just randomly picked Crewe because I liked their name and they looked like an interesting team in league 1. I also liked their training facilities for that league.

I'm currently in 3rd position after 24 games. I chose winner for my budget and have picked up a ton of help.

GK -- Junior Fernandez

DL -- Babayaro

DC -- Tordoya, Caceres

DR -- Laure

MC -- Hendry Thomas, Mascio, Bangura (All must buys, IMO)

AML -- Luisma

AMR -- Hakula (as mentioned, awesome buy)

ST -- Injac, Omladic

Another young striker I picked up in the first window is Pluchino Galuppo. Top notch talent and only paid 10k for him.

A ST named Kadlec became available in December for only 1K and he's a premier quality 16 year old. N'Gossan is a must buy in January if he's still cheap and available.

thanks for those mate, going to have a look at those players. I normally play with Eng prem-conf... Scot prem and Spain prem. Will these players still show up on the database that i use? Thanks

Smudgar I hate to be a bit of numpty but do you live in Crewe by any chance ?

Also if your looking for a couple of quality youngsters try loaning Martina Rini and Bartosz Salamon from Brescia and I think the Bolivian players only appear when you have loaded all players from Bolivia, don't know about the others.

No mate im from Northampton

Ahh no worries then had any look finding them players mate ?

finished 8th in season 1 after spending most of the season about 12th so happy with that. tried signing gibson and possebon back for another season but they were having none of it. so looking for a couple of decent mc's with 200k transfer & 1k wage budget. any suggestions?

Top of the championship in me 3rd season:) Time for the prem soon:D anyone got any cheap recommendations that will be able to keep me up when i get promoted?

Hey Just got crewe into the championship in my 2nd season in charge finishing 1st with 97pts 10 more than the 2nd placed team, i was wondering if anyone else has got crewe into the championship or maybe even further who could help me with some players or maybe a tactic to help me survive, i dont have any transfer money but do have 10k in wages that i could use, i do feel a need for an extra striker as the only 2 i have that scored goals in league 1 are jermaine easter and andy bishop who got 30 goals each all advice would be appreciated thanks

Hey Just got crewe into the championship in my 2nd season in charge finishing 1st with 97pts 10 more than the 2nd placed team, i was wondering if anyone else has got crewe into the championship or maybe even further who could help me with some players or maybe a tactic to help me survive, i dont have any transfer money but do have 10k in wages that i could use, i do feel a need for an extra striker as the only 2 i have that scored goals in league 1 are jermaine easter and andy bishop who got 30 goals each all advice would be appreciated thanks.

Top of the championship in me 3rd season:) Time for the prem soon:D anyone got any cheap recommendations that will be able to keep me up when i get promoted?

Thats pretty damn good dude. Unless you get a new ground or an extension you will struggle financially though. I will be starting a Crewe game soon as I won the quad with them on FM08 so want to repeat that although I dobut thats possible on this game. I would suggest loans and free transfers as the way to go.

Try to loan Jack Wilshere I loaned him from Arsenal as Sunderland in the 3rd season so you might be able to loan him in the 4th and he is awesome. Also check the relegated teams can get some bargains from them.

Hi just started with Crewe, won all my preseason games apart from Liverpool, And i'm just about to start the season.

Good luck with it mate. Any advice you want i'll happily give you.

Going to start a crewe game myself.

Obviously from the screen name you can see i'm a liverpool fan, but having been born and lived in crewe all my life, i may aswell try to bring some success to my home town.

Go for it Anfield.

Thats pretty damn good dude. Unless you get a new ground or an extension you will struggle financially though. I will be starting a Crewe game soon as I won the quad with them on FM08 so want to repeat that although I dobut thats possible on this game. I would suggest loans and free transfers as the way to go.

Try to loan Jack Wilshere I loaned him from Arsenal as Sunderland in the 3rd season so you might be able to loan him in the 4th and he is awesome. Also check the relegated teams can get some bargains from them.

Cheers:thup: I've really been struggling with the money, many players came on free transfers at the end of my first season and have done well but at the start of the first season the club had a balence of about £4mill and at the end it was down to about £500k. Ive managed to keep it out of the red though by playing lots of pre season friendlies against big clubs (roughly raising 600k). Also the main reason i lost so much first season was because i was trying to reduce my wage budget to afford the players out of contract at the end of the season, but i couldnt get clubs to buy my players so i released them for compensation which probs cost me £1.5mill. And being in the championship generates allot more money:D

The best buy has to be Mascio on a free. 17 years old and has got 7 goals for me in 10 games from CM, all of them coming from outside of the box. A class player. Gets a work permit, free to buy, little wages, guarenteed success with him. Thank you to whoever found him

Got 2 words for you all... Danny Haynes:D

The lad is unreal, just look how many goals he has scored, only paid 70k at the start of the season for him aswell:D

Started again as my last save got corrupt. Will update when I can.

Anyone got to the promised land of the prem yet?