Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of the town's links with the rail industry, and also commonly known as 'The Alex', they have played at their current Gresty Road location (adjacent to the sites of two previous grounds) since 1906.

Gradi encouraged Crewe to play attractive, technical football and built a reputation for developing young players, with future England internationals David Platt, Danny Murphy, Seth Johnson and Dean Ashton all emerging at the club.

[10] In 1887–88, the club reached the FA Cup semi-finals, defeating Swifts,[11][c] 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;[13] following the schism, Webb and the LNWR said the company would "refuse to find employment in the Crewe Works for any professional football player".

[37] In 1963, Crewe secured their first promotion to the Third Division, winning the season's final game against Exeter City, with Frank Lord scoring the only goal in front of a crowd of 9,807 at Gresty Road.

[43] In December 1979, manager Tony Waddington signed the goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar who kept eight clean-sheets in his 24 matches played,[44] and, on 5 May 1980, scored a penalty—his only professional goal—to seal a 2–0 victory over York City.

[45] In June 1983, after Crewe finished second from bottom at the end of the 1982–83 season, the then club chairman Norman Rowlinson appointed Milan-born Dario Gradi as manager.

[54] Meanwhile, on 7 January 1989, Crewe had hosted Aston Villa—and Platt—at Gresty Road in the FA Cup third round, taking a 2–0 lead before the visitors rallied to secure a 3–2 win,[55][56] with Platt netting the winner but refusing to celebrate against his former club.

[65][66] In the same year, Neil Lennon became the first Crewe player to win an international cap since Fred Keenor in 1932 when he was selected to play for Northern Ireland against Mexico.

Boosting the finances, notable player sales included Lennon (to Leicester City for £750,000),[72] Danny Murphy (to Liverpool for an initial fee of £1.5m),[62] and Seth Johnson (to Derby County for £3m).

[77] Crewe retained their Division One place in the 2003–04 season, during which assistant manager Neil Baker took temporary charge between 22 September and 17 October 2003 while Gradi underwent heart surgery.

Crewe announced that, from 1 July 2007, Gradi would take up a new role as the club's technical director while gradually allowing newly appointed first-team coach Steve Holland control of the team.

[92] Crewe defeated Southend United in the two-legged semi-final, extending the unbeaten run to a club record 18 matches[93] and securing a play-off final against Cheltenham Town at Wembley on 27 May 2012 which they won 2–0; the goalscorers were academy graduates Nick Powell and Byron Moore.

[94][95] Before the 2012–13 season, Crewe sold Powell to Manchester United, and on transfer deadline day captain Ashley Westwood joined Aston Villa.

However, with new academy players coming into the first team, Crewe returned to Wembley to win the Football League Trophy, beating Southend United 2–0 in the final in April 2013.

The team needed at least a home draw against Bradford City to secure safety but lost 1–0 and had to rely on results elsewhere to ensure League One football for another year, finishing two points above the bottom four in 20th.

[135] In February 2023, the club announced plans to install 3,000 solar panels above spaces in the car park south of the main (Boughey) stand, with energy to be used to power the stadium or to bring in cash.

[172] During the 1990s, one Crewe supporter, classically trained musician Richard Sutton, was known for taking a trumpet to games,[173] playing occasional fanfares such as the theme from Star Wars during matches.

[45] Crewe's conscious investment in young players began in the late 1980s when then manager Dario Gradi and club chairman John Bowler got the local council to contribute towards the costs of an all-weather pitch at Gresty Road.

[184] In 1995, Crewe leased a 20-acre site at Reaseheath, near Nantwich, planning a £750,000 training and player development facility largely funded by transfer sales.

These were all youngsters signed from other clubs, but the academy also nurtured Crewe's own trainees – most notably England internationals Rob Jones, Danny Murphy, Seth Johnson and Dean Ashton, plus Wales midfielder David Vaughan.

[189][190] On 16 November 2016, former Crewe defender Andy Woodward revealed that he had been the victim of child sexual abuse by former football coach Barry Bennell (convicted as a paedophile in the US in 1994) at the club in the 1980s.

[191][192] By the time club chairman John Bowler responded to the revelations, on Monday 21 November, six other individuals had contacted the police,[193] with Woodward's Crewe teammate Steve Walters alleging he was another of Bennell's victims.

[197][198] Bennell was tried at Liverpool Crown Court in early 2018, and convicted of 50 offences of sexual abuse against 12 boys[199] (and on 20 February 2018 was sentenced to 30 years in prison).

He and at least one other former Crewe player launched High Court damages claims of upwards of £200,000 against the club;[203] an eight-week trial was listed to start in October 2021.

"[214] The FA's 710-page report,[214] published on 17 March 2021, identified failures to act adequately on complaints or rumours of sexual abuse at eight professional clubs including Crewe.

[217] With Gradi "effectively banned for life" from football for safeguarding reasons,[218] Crewe chairman John Bowler was pressed to resign[219] and did so on 25 March 2021.

[225] The club's heaviest defeat was in the FA Cup in 1960 when they were beaten 13–2 by Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on 30 January 1960,[25] a game watched by 64,365: the largest crowd for a match involving Crewe.

[39][25] Best match return was five goals, scored by Tony Naylor in Crewe's 7–1 league defeat of Colchester United at Gresty Road on 24 April 1993.

[17] Donervon Daniels was the most recent Crewe player to win a full international cap; he played for Montserrat in their FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifier against US Virgin Islands on 2 June 2021.