title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: Meanwhile, Shoaib is even in childhood a very ambitious person with a dark and daring character, who is frequently involved in petty theft. His father, Hussain Khan, who is a Sub-Inspector with the Bombay Police, tries in vain to guide and control his son; his anger against Shoaib began years ago when Shoaib and his best friend Javed were stealing money and got caught red handed by a man, by teaching his son a lesson, Hussain slapped him 5 times. Hussain locks Shoaib in jail, but Shoaib angers him as both Shoaib and Wilson make a deal saying that Shoaib wants to follow another path. Worried, Hussain turns to Sultan for help. Sultan agrees and helps the young man set up an electronics shop. But Shoaib is unsatisfied, as his only real ambition is to become rich and powerful, like Sultan, who is his idol.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: Mirza has a crush on actress Rehana and the two eventually begin dating. Sultan invests black money in her upcoming films. Wilson moves to stop Rehana's films funded by Sultan. Later, Sultan and Rehana frame Wilson to make it look as if Wilson is accepting a bribe, which damages his credibility.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: Shoaib's beautiful girlfriend, Mumtaz, works in a local jewellery shop, which Shoaib visits often, to the aggravation of her boss. Shoaib gives her a beautiful necklace, which, unbeknownst to Mumtaz, Shoaib had stolen from a lady during a home robbery. Later, that lady comes to the shop with her husband to buy more jewellery. The lady soon recognizes her own necklace being worn by Mumtaz and accuses her of allegedly stealing her jewellery and publicly insults her. Following this, Mumtaz admits to the outraged customer that her boyfriend had given the item to her. The lady and her husband demand she takes them to her boyfriend's shop, where they confront him. This enrages Shoaib, who beats up the husband and destroys his own shop.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: Shoaib goes to Sultan and asks to be a part of his crime ring. Seeing his potential, Sultan agrees to take him under his wing. Shoaib learns the tricks of the trade and soon becomes Sultan's trusted aide. Wilson hatches a plan to use Shoaib's reckless ambition for quick money and power as a way to cause the downfall of Sultan. Wilson even refrains from killing Sultan and Shoaib when he has the opportunity, however Wilson's plan backfires. Finally, when Shoaib becomes invincible, Wilson blames himself for the subsequent catastrophe as he now cannot stop Shoaib's rise to power.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: In 1975, Sultan decides to hand over his power to Shoaib, and opts to enter state politics. He travels to Delhi to meet the Home Minister of India Jeet Kumar Rathi. Shoaib's unscrupulous ambitions lead him to carry out trades and acts which Sultan himself would strongly condemn and abhor, including manufacturing illicit liquor, accepting contract killings, investing in drug peddling, and running extortion rackets. When Sultan returns to Bombay, he learns of Shoaib's misdeeds and is outraged. He finds Shoaib at a party and slaps him in public for his unethical activities and states he can never really be like Sultan. This infuriates Shoaib and he plots his revenge as he now knows that Sultan and he cannot possibly rule Bombay together due to Sultan's strong principles and moral ethos. The next day, as Sultan campaigns for his new party, Shoaib appears and assassinates Sultan while he is addressing the people at the rally as a horrified Wilson looks on, thus ending the reign of the smuggler who was loved by his people.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: Back in 1993, Wilson laments that he and the police are responsible for the bombings because of their lack of forethought. Wilson also says that 18 years later, Shoaib now rules Bombay despite living abroad, and the people are now forever at his mercy. As Bombay's new underworld kingpin, he has since established a global criminal empire, which leaves any and all governments and forces no chance to reach him.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: The film was made on a budget of 38 crore ( 28 crore for production and 100 million for publicity and advertising).


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: The film depicts the growth of the Mumbai underworld, from crime and smuggling in its early stages to its connection with international terrorism in recent times. It is believed to be based on the lives of real-life gangsters Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim, portrayed by the characters Sultan and Shoaib, respectively. Originally Sanjay Dutt was chosen to play the role of Haji Mastan but the role went to Ajay Devgn instead.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated the film 2.5 out of 5 saying, "The film is watchable and enjoyable in parts even, but it doesn't quite pull off the retro chic tone it was going for". IANS rated the movie 3.5 out of 5 saying, "Rajat Arora's dialogues flow from the storytelling in a smooth flow of poetry and street wisdom." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it 4/5 and called it "An outstanding Cinematic experience". Nikhat Kazmi of the "Times of India" gave it 4/5 and stated, ""Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai" offers you both substance and soul, even as it dabbles with a slice of reality". Rediff gave it 4/5 and said, "Book your tickets now".


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: "Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai" managed to have a decent weekend despite starting slowly. The film picked up from Friday evening and managed to have good Saturday and Sunday collections. The approximate breakdowns are 55.0 million (Friday), 70 million (Saturday) and 77.5 million (Sunday) for a 202.5 million weekend. The film grossed Rs. 585.0 million in India at the end of its ninth week. "Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai" was declared a hit by Box Office India.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: In its opening weekend the film showed a day-wise growth in U.K. [Friday £15,755, Saturday £19,381 and Sunday £19,644] and a decent start in U.S. [approx. $ at 32 venues]. In its second weekend, the film collected £16,249 on 14 screens, with the per screen average working out to £1,161. Total: £1,07,988 at U.K boxoffice. In its third weekend, the film collected £5,909 on 8 screens, with the per screen average working out to £739 (total: £ in U.K.). In its fourth weekend in U.K, the film collected £743 on four screens, with the per screen average working out to £186 (total: £1,26,696). In its fifth weekend in the U.K, the film collected £105 on two screens, with the per screen average working out to £53 (total: £1,27,338). In its fifth weekend at the U.S. boxoffice, the film collected $1,131 on two screens, with the per screen average working out to $566 (total: $3,02,862).


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: The film received many awards at several award functions. Ajay Devgn and Prachi Desai received accolades for their nominations, while other awards were won for the film's music, playback and technical direction.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: The film's songs were released on 28 June 2010. There were a total of 14 songs composed by Pritam with lyrics penned by Irshad Kamil, Neelesh Misra and Amitabh Bhattacharya.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: The song "Parda" is a medley containing samples from the following 1970's Bollywood songs; "Duniya Mein Logon Ko" (Apna Desh), "Piya Tu Ab To Aaja" (Caravan). The song "I'm A Man" by Black Strobe was also used as a background soundtrack uncredited.


title: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

text: Due to the film's commercial and critical success, a sequel was planned. Akshay Kumar and Imran Khan were roped in as the male leads. The sequel, "Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara!", features Sonakshi Sinha playing the role of actress Mandakini, whilst Sonali Bendre was also roped in for a role. The film started shooting in August 2012, whilst the film released on 15 August 2013, thus avoids clashing with Rohit Shetty directorial "Chennai Express", starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, which released one week before the release of "OUATIMD". The film was a flop at the box office as it had very slow opening with very low occupancy while "Chennai Express" was breaking various box office records throughout its release.


title: The Crowned Clown

text: The Crowned Clown () is a 2019 South Korean television series starring Yeo Jin-goo, Kim Sang-kyung, and Lee Se-young. A remake of the 2012 film "Masquerade", the series centers on the tale of a Joseon King and his doppelganger, a clown whom he puts on the throne to escape the intense power struggles afflicting the royal court. It aired from January 7 to March 4, 2019, on tvN.


title: The Crowned Clown

text: The story takes place in mid-Joseon period, when upheavals and power struggles surrounding the throne had reached extremely devastating levels. In order to escape those who plan to assassinate him, the King puts a clown, who looks exactly like him, on the throne. As the clown settles into his role, the palace is upended as the King's enemies are confounded by the imposter's creativity and his ever-expanding circle of allies, who are glad to see the “King” finally become the ruler they have always wanted.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Antonio Sabàto Jr. (born February 29, 1972) is an Italian-born American model and actor. Sabàto first found fame in the 1990s as an underwear model for Calvin Klein and playing Jagger Cates on the soap opera "General Hospital" from 1992 to 1995. By the early 2000s, most of his acting credits were guest appearances, reality television, and budget films. Sabàto ran unsuccessfully as the Republican candidate for U.S. Congress against incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Julia Brownley for California's 26th district in the 2018 elections.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Sabàto was born in Rome, Italy on February 29, 1972, a Leap Day. His father was Antonio Sabàto Sr., an Italian-born film star. His mother, Yvonne, was born in Prague (then part of Czechoslovakia), and of half Czech and half Jewish ancestry; her own mother was a Jewish Holocaust survivor. He has one sibling, a sister named Simonne. Sabàto and his family moved to the United States from Italy in 1985 and he became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1996. He received his high school diploma from Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles, California. His parents divorced, and his mother remarried, to California-based businessman George F. Kabouchy, in 1997.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Sabàto was featured on the cover of erotic magazine "Playgirl" in April 1993. Represented in Los Angeles by fashion agent Omar Albertto, Sabàto first gained attention as a Calvin Klein underwear model in 1996. In 1990, he appeared in Janet Jackson's "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" music video along with actor Djimon Hounsou, who is also a former CK underwear model represented by Albertto. In 2013, Sabàto was named the international celebrity spokesperson for AnastasiaDate, an online mail-order bride website which connects wealthy American older men with Eastern European women.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Moving into acting, from 1992 through 1995 he appeared on the soap opera "General Hospital", the science fiction series "Earth 2" and the prime time soap opera "Melrose Place". Throughout the late 1990s, he starred in various TV movies and direct-to-video films, as well as a supporting role in the 1998 feature film "The Big Hit". In 2003, he played the protagonist's lover Pablo in the movie "Testosterone", filmed in Argentina with Sonia Braga, David Sutcliffe, Jennifer Coolidge, Celina Font and Leonardo Brezicki. From 2005 to 2006, Sabàto played Dante Damiano on the daytime soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful", and in 2008, Sabàto reprised his role as Jagger Cates on the second season of "". Sabàto made an appearance on "Bones" as a bouncer from a Jersey Shore club in season 6, episode 3, "The Maggots in the Meathead" in 2010. In 2013, he played Father Zaragosa in the television series "The League". Sabàto is set to direct, produce and star in an upcoming project called "Trail Blazers", which reportedly is the first in the line of other films he hopes to produce for his upcoming film studio called Trail Blazers Pictures. The film costars fellow Donald Trump supporters Kristy Swanson, Kevin Sorbo, Dean Cain, and Scott Baio.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: In 2016, Sabàto was contracted to be a Chippendales dancer for a special engagement in June at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: In 2005, Sabàto appeared on "But Can They Sing?", a celebrity reality singing competition on VH1, coming in 5th place. He competed in the 2008 NBC competition "Celebrity Circus", which he won. He stated on the show that both his mother and her father were circus performers.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: In August 2009, Sabàto starred in "My Antonio", a reality show on VH1 in which female contestants competed to win his heart. The show notably featured Sabàto's ex-wife, Tully Jensen, as one of the contestants (she came in 3rd place), and his mother also appeared on the show, providing advice. The show's winner was Brooke Barlow.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Sabàto and his family appeared on ABC's "Celebrity Wife Swap" on January 31, 2012. His then-fiancé Cheryl Moana Marie Nunes traded places on the show with WWE wrestler Mick Foley's wife Colette Foley. Sabàto competed on season 19 of "Dancing with the Stars" in 2014. He was paired with professional dancer Cheryl Burke, and they finished in 8th place.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Since 2014, Sabàto has served as the host of a 30-minute long syndicated home remodeling show "Fix It & Finish It".


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Sabàto announced that he wants to start a Hollywood movie studio geared toward conservative content. The new company is called Trail Blazers Pictures and the studio's first upcoming film, "Trail Blazers", is in the works for a release in 2022.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Sabàto ran for the 26th district Congressional seat in California as a Republican against incumbent Democrat Julia Brownley. He came in second place in the jungle primary with 22.4% of the vote, advancing to face Brownley in the general election. He lost the election on November 6, 2018, by 24%.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Regarding illegal immigration, Sabàto said, "There should be no shortcuts for those who don't want to pay or wait". He supported Trump's wall on the southern border, saying, "We need a wall."


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Sabàto has made many controversial statements regarding former U.S. President Barack Obama, including saying he has "no guts," accusing him of destroying the U.S. economy, and asserting that Obama should be arrested and sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The former Democrat has also implied that Obama is the reason he left the Democratic Party.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: For several years, Sabàto has maintained that, in his opinion, Obama is not a Christian but a Muslim. The first instance of such a claim came in 2016, when Sabàto, after making a speech at the Republican National Convention, told ABC News "I don't believe he follows the God that I love and the Jesus that I love," and "If you follow his story, if you read his book, if you understand about Obama, I mean, that's not a Christian name, is it?" When pressed for evidence to back up his claims, Sabàto answered that it's "in his heart."


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Two years later, in 2018, he reaffirmed his belief that Obama is a Muslim when appearing on "The View", saying "If he's [Obama's] not a Muslim, we should call him President Barry," and claimed that "What I was saying was, he changed his name to Obama because he followed the Islam religion when he was growing up so, I felt that once you're in that religion, you stay for the rest of your life."


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Sabàto endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2016. He spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention in support of the party's presumptive nominee. Sabàto claimed that after he expressed his support for Trump, he was blacklisted from Hollywood. He later compared his struggle to find work in show business with that of being Jewish during the Holocaust and said celebrities mocked him on the social media website Twitter.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Sabàto was married to Tully Jensen from 1992 until 1993. He married Cheryl Moana Marie Nunes in 2012. The two separated in December 2016 and their divorce was finalized in June 2018. After Sabàto filed for divorce, Nunes alleged that Sabàto was abusing prescription drugs and had failed to complete even one month of a three-month-long drug rehabilitation program. Sabàto said that he was addicted to prescription sleep aids, not benzodiazepines as Nunes claimed, but admitted that he had a problem with substance abuse in the past, specifically crystal meth. Sabàto has three children: a son with Virginia Madsen, a daughter with Kristin Rossetti Biasi, and a son with Nunes.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: Sabàto had testosterone pellets injected into his buttocks as a treatment for low levels of testosterone. Sabàto has several tattoos, including the Batman logo on his lower back and the yin yang symbol surrounded by Chinese characters on his arm.


title: Antonio Sabàto Jr.

text: In a December 2018 tweet, Sabàto stated that he and his family were in the process of moving out of California to an undisclosed state, citing his frustration with the state's progressive policies as the primary reason. In March 2020, Sabàto moved to Florida, and now works for a construction company.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of the town's links with the rail industry, and also commonly known as 'The Alex', they have played at Gresty Road since 1906. The supporters' fiercest rivalry is with Staffordshire-based side Port Vale.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: The club was formed in 1877 as the football division of Crewe Alexandra Cricket Club, named after Princess Alexandra. Crewe reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1888 and were then a founding member of the Football League Second Division in 1892. In 1921, the club was invited to join the newly created Football League Third Division North, where they stayed for the next 37 years before being placed in the new Fourth Division in 1958. The team achieved their first promotion after finishing third in 1962–63. Crewe were immediately relegated but were promoted again in 1967–68; they again lasted just one season in the Third Division.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe spent 20 years struggling in the fourth tier before their fortunes were revived under Dario Gradi, manager for 24 years from 1983. He twice led the team to promotion to the third tier, and after two unsuccessful play-off campaigns, won the 1997 Second Division play-off final to win a place in the Football League First Division. After an absence of 101 years, they played at this second tier level―renamed the Football League Championship before the start of the 2004–05 season―for eight of the following nine seasons. 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. After Crewe dropped down to the fourth tier again in 2009, Steve Davis led the club to promotion to the third tier via the play-offs in 2012. In 2013, the club won its first and only Football League Trophy. Under David Artell, manager from January 2017, Crewe returned to third tier League One in 2020 and finished 12th in the 2020–21 season, but were relegated in 2022.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: From late 2016 through to publication of the FA's Sheldon review in March 2021, the club—and Gradi—were heavily implicated in the football sexual abuse scandal, facing criticism for their handling of youth coach Barry Bennell, imprisoned in 1995 for child sexual abuse, and jailed again in 2018. Gradi was suspended by the Football Association in December 2016, and club chairman John Bowler resigned in March 2021.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe Alexandra Football Club was formed in 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 Princess Alexandra. 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 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 works, who supported the exclusion of professional sportsmen; following the schism, Webb and the LNWR said the company would 'refuse to find employment in the Crewe Works for any professional football player'. Consequently, "the football section of the Alexandra Club owed little to the LNWR..., despite the teams being closely linked to the local railway industry." On 5 March 1892, John Pearson became the first Crewe player to win an England cap, playing against Ireland in Belfast; he remains the only Crewe player capped for the full England side while playing for the club.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe secretary J.G. Hall helped found the unsuccessful Combination (launched at Crewe's Royal Hotel in early 1889) and then the Football Alliance (1889–1892). When the latter merged with the Football League, Crewe were a founding member of the Football League Second Division in 1892, but lost their league status in 1896 after only four seasons—finishing third from bottom, fourth from bottom, then bottom twice—possibly due to a player budget that was a quarter of that of other clubs. The club left the Alexandra Recreation Ground shortly before the end of the 1895–96 season, and after playing at a number of different venues, including in nearby Sandbach, they moved to the first Gresty Road ground in 1897 (in 1906 the current Gresty Road ground was rebuilt to the west of the original site). Incorporated as a limited company on 29 May 1899, Crewe spent two further seasons in the second incarnation of the Combination from 1896 followed by three seasons in the Lancashire League, before competing in the Birmingham & District League for ten years. They also won the Cheshire Senior Challenge Cup in 1907 and 1910. The team spent the 1910s in the Central League, finishing second in 1913–14 and 1920–21.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe rejoined the Football League in 1921; they finished 6th in their first two seasons in the Third Division North but did not finish as high again until 1931–32 and 1935–36. In October 1932, defender Fred Keenor's last Wales appearance marked Crewe's first international cap of the 20th century. Crewe's first major honours were Welsh Cup wins in 1936 and 1937; Crewe is not in Wales but English clubs, usually from border areas, participated by invitation. In 1936, Bert Swindells scored his 100th League goal for Crewe, going on to score 128 League goals for the club, a record that still stands, as well as goals in both Welsh Cup finals.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: From the 1950s to the early 1980s, Crewe enjoyed only occasional success. Looking over Gresty Road, Michael Palin, in the 1980 BBC "Great Railway Journeys of the World" series, described Crewe as "like those other railway towns, Swindon and Doncaster, possessed of a football team which is perpetually propping up the bottom of the Fourth Division". Between 1894 and 1982, Crewe finished last in the Football League eight times, more than any other league club. On 25 December 1954, Crewe embarked on a sequence where they did not win away from home for 56 matches; the run ended with a 1–0 win at Southport on 24 April 1957. Crewe finished bottom of Division Three North three times in a row from 1955–56 to 1957–58, tallying just 28, 21 and 23 points from 46 games in each respective season. The club was placed into the newly formed Fourth Division in 1958–59.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: All-time records were set against First Division Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup fourth round in 1960. A new record Gresty Road attendance of 20,000 saw Crewe hold Spurs to a 2–2 draw on 30 January. On 3 February, Tottenham convincingly won the replay 13–2, Crewe's record defeat. The following year, however, Jimmy McGuigan's Crewe side defeated another First Division club, Chelsea, 2–1 in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge on 7 January 1961. Chelsea's side included former Crewe player Frank Blunstone—who scored Chelsea's goal—as well as England internationals Peter Bonetti, Jimmy Greaves and Terry Venables. Crewe were then again drawn against the eventual double-winning Spurs side, who won 5–1 in the fourth round at White Hart Lane.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: 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. Lord holds the record for most hat-tricks for the club with eight. The club finished in third place, behind champions Brentford and Oldham Athletic, but were relegated back to Division Four the following season. In the 1964–65 season, Terry Harkin scored a record 34 league goals for Crewe. Managed by Ernie Tagg, the club achieved promotion for a second time in 1967–68, but again spent just one season in the Third Division.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: From 1969, Crewe spent 20 years in Division Four, finishing bottom in 1971–72, 1978–79 and 1981–82, and not achieving a top half finish until 1985. In 1974, they came within two minutes of taking Aston Villa into extra time in a League Cup third round replay at Villa Park. In 1977, Tommy Lowry played his record-setting 475th and last game for the Railwaymen; he had earlier passed Peter Leigh's total of 430 appearances between 1960 and 1972. From February to September 1979, the club went a record 16 matches (15 league, one League Cup tie) without winning at Gresty Road. In December 1979, manager Tony Waddington signed the goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar who kept eight clean-sheets in his 24 matches played, and, on 5 May 1980, scored a penalty—his only professional goal—to seal a 2–0 victory over York City.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: 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. Gradi looked to build an academy structure to develop players that could be sold to help fund the player development programme. Among his early transfer successes were Geoff Thomas and John Pemberton (both signed from Rochdale and sold to Crystal Palace, in 1987 and 1988 respectively), and former Manchester United apprentice David Platt, signed in 1985 and sold to Aston Villa for £200,000 in February 1988.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Under Gradi, and despite some Crewe fans' initial reservations, Crewe played attractive, technical football and gained a reputation for developing young talent. Steve Walters became Crewe's youngest player, aged just 16 years and 119 days when he played against Peterborough United on 7 May 1988. In 1989, Crewe won their third promotion, a 1–1 draw at Tranmere Rovers enough to take both teams into the Third Division. 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, with Platt netting the winner but refusing to celebrate against his former club. A year later, on 6 January 1990, Crewe were again drawn away at Chelsea in the third round; Walters gave Crewe a first-half lead at Stamford Bridge before Chelsea equalised in the 82nd minute to force a replay which they won 2–0. In March 1990, Crewe defender Paul Edwards was sold to Coventry City for £350,000; he was later named in the 1989-1990 Third Division PFA Team of the Year, Crewe's first player to feature in the awards.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe were relegated in 1991. However, despite further player sales―defender Rob Jones joined Liverpool for £300,000, then Craig Hignett was sold for a club record £500,000 to Middlesbrough―the club reached the 1993 Third Division play-off final but lost against York City at Wembley. Crewe then gained promotion in 1994 after a final day victory at Chester City. 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. Crewe twice lost in play-off semi-finals, to Bristol Rovers in 1995 and Notts County in 1996, then returned to Wembley in the 1997 Division Two play-off final, securing a 1–0 victory over Brentford to put the club back in the second tier for the first time since 1896.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe achieved their highest finishing position, 11th, in the 1997–98 First Division season. Gradi kept his team in the division until 2002, despite a matchday income on which many more lowly clubs could not survive. Boosting the finances, notable player sales included Lennon (to Leicester City for £750,000), Danny Murphy (to Liverpool for an initial fee of £1.5m), and Seth Johnson (to Derby County for £3m). Gradi celebrated his 1,000th game in charge of Crewe on 20 November 2001.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: After one season in the Division Two the team were promoted back to Division One at the end of the 2002–03 season, having finished in second place—Crewe's first runner-up position—with Rob Hulse scoring 22 league goals, and being named in the PFA Team of the Year, ahead of a £750,000 transfer to West Bromwich Albion. 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. At the start of the 2004–05 season, Crewe were rated one of the teams most likely to be relegated from the newly renamed 'Championship'. In the event, they put in a good showing in the first half of the season, but after selling Dean Ashton to Norwich City for £3 million in the January 2005 transfer window, Crewe failed to win until the final match of the season, when they defeated Coventry City 2–1 to avoid relegation on goal difference. However, they were relegated to League One (level three) the following season. Nonetheless, Crewe were named the "Most Admired Club" in the 2006 Football League Awards.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: By the summer of 2007, Gradi was the longest-serving manager in English league football, having completed 24 years in sole charge of the club. 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. Holland's first season was a disappointment as the club narrowly avoided relegation, finishing 20th with 50 points. Ahead of his second season, he spent half a million pounds on new signings, while striker Nicky Maynard joined Bristol City for £2.25 million. However, despite a positive pre-season, Crewe took only nine points from their first 16 games. The board sacked Holland as first team coach in November 2008, and re-appointed Gradi as caretaker manager.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: On 24 December 2008, former Stoke City manager Gudjon Thordarson was appointed as Holland's successor. He made a promising start, and received the February 2009 Manager of the Month award (the first time a Crewe manager had won the award), but the team suffered a poor end-of-season run, not winning for 10 games, and were relegated to League Two. On 2 October 2009, after nine months in charge and another poor run of results, Thordarson was sacked, and Gradi was reinstated as caretaker manager. Despite lingering close to the playoff places for the majority of the season, another run of poor form saw the club finish 18th. Crewe improved to 10th in the 2010–11 season, during which Gradi won the January 2011 Manager of the Month. In November 2011, Gradi finally stepped down as manager and returned to his previous role as director of football focusing on youth development.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Steve Davis was appointed manager in the same month. Previously manager of nearby Nantwich Town, Davis had been appointed assistant manager in June 2009, replacing former assistant Neil Baker. Davis immediately led the team to a 16-match unbeaten run in early 2012 up to 7th position, earning the club a play-off place. Crewe defeated Southend United in the two-legged semi-final, extending the unbeaten run to a club record 18 matches 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.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: 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. In the league, Crewe finished in mid-table; they ended the season by fielding a team whose starting line-up were all Crewe Academy graduates.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: In March 2014, John Bowler, Crewe chairman since 1988, was honoured with the Contribution to League Football Award at The Football League Awards. Dario Gradi had earlier won the same award, in 2011. In the 2015 New Year Honours, Bowler was awarded an MBE for services to football; Gradi was presented an MBE in January 1998.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe retained their place in League One in the 2013–14 season, but started the following season poorly, gaining four points from the first 11 League games. Some sustained runs of better results pulled the club out of the relegation places. 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.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: The 2015–16 season started in a similar pattern, with the team winning just two of their first 15 league games. They also crashed out of the FA Cup in the first round against non-league Eastleigh, forcing Davis to defend his position as the 'right man' for the job. Crewe's relegation to League Two was confirmed following a 3–0 defeat at local rivals Port Vale, with five games remaining. After an initially promising start to the following season, Crewe's form slumped during the final months of 2016, and on 8 January 2017, Davis was sacked as Crewe manager.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Former Crewe defender and Academy operations manager David Artell replaced Davis. Artell maintained the flow of Academy players and, as Crewe improved to 15th at the end of the 2017–18 season, he emulated Davis in selecting another starting line-up who were all Crewe Academy graduates.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: After 36 years involvement with the club, Gradi, 78, announced his retirement from all positions at Crewe Alexandra on 7 October 2019. In February 2020, further changes to the club's board were announced with local businessman Stuart Whitby and former Nantwich Town chairman Tony Davison joining the board following a £1.75m buy-out of majority shareholder Norman Hassall. The Railwaymen Supporters Society also raised £250,000, to earn the right for a Crewe fans' representative on the club's new board.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: On the pitch, Artell's progress since 2017 culminated in Crewe vying for promotion for much of the 2019–20 season, with the club top of the table (ahead of Swindon Town on goal difference) when the football season was suspended in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On 9 June, Crewe's promotion to League One was confirmed, but Swindon were crowned League Two champions on the basis of average points per game. Artell was selected as League Two Manager of the Year in the League Managers Association Awards—becoming the first Crewe manager to win such an annual award—and two Academy graduates, Perry Ng and Charlie Kirk, were named in the PFA League Two Team of the Year. Crewe finished 12th in League One at the end of the 2020–21 season – the club's highest finish since relegation from the Championship in 2006. However, the following season was "one of the worst" seasons in Crewe's modern history; the club was relegated with four games still to play after a 2-0 defeat at Doncaster Rovers on 9 April 2022. Two days later, Crewe parted company with Artell; assistant manager Alex Morris was appointed interim manager,


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: becoming the permanent manager on 28 April 2022. Winless in nine games, on 4 November 2022 Morris stepped down as manager "for compassionate reasons" and reverted to assistant manager. Lee Bell became interim manager and on 1 December 2022 was given the job on a permanent basis.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Until 1896, Crewe played at the Alexandra Recreation Ground, located just to the north of the modern-day Gresty Road. After playing at various venues in 1896 and 1897, including in nearby Sandbach, the club returned to the same area of Crewe, adjacent to Crewe railway station, to play at the first Gresty Road ground, located to the south-east of the original stadium. In 1906 the ground was demolished to make way for some new railway lines, and a new Gresty Road stadium was built on a site directly to the west.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: The pitch runs approximately east to west, with teams playing either west towards Gresty Road or east towards the railway station. The main stand has always been situated on the south side of the ground. Until the 1990s, the main stand was a wooden structure, built in 1932 after a fire destroyed the original stand, offering the ground's only (wooden) seating plus a standing area―'The Paddock'―while the other three sides were all standing terraces. This configuration saw the club's record attendance when 20,000 people watched the FA Cup third round tie against Spurs in 1960.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: During the 1990s, phased modernisation saw open terracing at the "Railway End" (at one time a roughly formed "ash bank" terraced with sleepers) replaced by a new family stand in 1993. The "Gresty Road End" (then the main away supporters area) was also replaced by an all-seater stand in 1995; and the partially-covered northern stand (the home supporters' "Pop Side") was replaced by an all-seater stand in 1996–97. Completion of the final phase in 2000, including construction of a new £5.2 million main stand, saw some reorganisation of seating allocations. Away fans are currently accommodated in the stand along the northern touchline, with the option of additional capacity in the family stand for particularly large visiting contingents; Crewe hosted its first crowd of over 10,000 in the now all-seater stadium in 2000 with the record attendance of 10,092 when Crewe played Manchester City on 12 March 2002. The Gresty Road End and main stand are solely for home supporters.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: In June 2021, the club agreed a £0.5m naming rights deal with long-term shirt sponsor Mornflake; the ground will be called the "Mornflake Stadium" until 2023–24. Also known as the Alexandra Stadium, it has an all-seated capacity of 10,153. It features four stands:


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Should the ground require expansion, the most likely change will be redevelopment of the Ice Cream Van Stand to become a two-tiered stand.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Since the late 1890s, the main (home) Crewe playing strip has featured a red or predominantly red top, usually with white shorts (though red and black shorts have also been briefly adopted) and red socks. The team played in white shirts and blue shorts from 1886 to 1896, but have since played mainly in red and white. The red shirts earned the early nickname of the "Robins", though the club is more commonly referred to as the "Alex" or the "Railwaymen" (reflecting the club's railway works founders, the town's associations with the railway industry, and the club's proximity to Crewe railway station).


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe's away colours have varied. Blue, white or blue-and-white shirts have been the most commonly adopted, but during the 21st century, the club has also occasionally played in other colours; black with a gold trim was adopted for the 2021–2022 season, then light and dark blue vertical stripes the following season.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: The town's crest appeared on the team's shirts in the 1958–59 season. This included a lion―associated with the Marquess of Crewe―holding a cogged wheel, a larger six-spoked railway wheel, and two wheatsheaves reflecting south Cheshire's agricultural connections. This was replaced in 1975 by a simpler badge with a lion holding a railway wheel―a motif borrowed from British Railways―on a circle containing the words 'Crewe Alexandra Football Club' arranged around a football. The current badge, adopted in 1998, features a lion perched on a football, encircled by a laurel and the club's name; it dropped the railway wheel, prompting some Crewe fans to demand the club "bring back the wheel". The club's mascot is also a lion: Gresty the Lion appears on matchdays and in other community activities.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: The current shirt sponsor is cereals supplier Mornflake―also based in Gresty Road―whose logo has appeared on the shirts since 2005, and is set to continue through to 2023–24.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe is a small town: its built-up area had a total population of 71,722 in 2011. Founded by employees of the railway works, the club drew many of its supporters from the works, as well as residents from more rural areas surrounding the town. The club's location next to Crewe railway station has also helped supporters travel to and from games at Gresty Road. From the 1920s through to the 1960s, attendances typically averaged around 6,000, but local derbies could more than double crowds: the visit of Stoke City on 26 October 1926 attracted 15,102, for example, while Port Vale drew 17,883 on 21 September 1953, Crewe's record league crowd. Cup matches against major clubs such as Spurs also drew large crowds (a record 20,000 in 1960). However, league attendances dwindled in the 1970s and 1980s, when seasonal averages of under 2,000 were recorded four times, with 1986-87 being lowest: 1,817; just 1,009 watched a 1–1 draw with Peterborough United on 4 February 1986. Crewe's resurgence from the mid-1980s under Gradi boosted local interest, with 5,000-plus attendances increasingly common, even as Gresty Road's transition to an all-seater stadium began to restrict numbers in the late 1990s; average attendance peaked at 7,741 in 2004 during Crewe's years in the Championship. League Two crowds before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown in 2020 averaged 4,580, just above their all-time average, 4,576.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Ticket prices at Gresty Road are broadly in line with other clubs' rates for all-seated areas. In the BBC's 2017 Price of Football survey, Crewe's tickets for individual League Two games cost a maximum of £22 (15 other clubs charged higher prices); the most expensive Crewe season ticket cost £325 (only one other club, Accrington Stanley, charged less for its most expensive season tickets), and its lowest priced season ticket (£280) was in the mid-range for the division. For the 2021–2022 season in League One, matchday tickets cost a maximum of £25.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe's main rivals are fellow English Football League team Port Vale. As of March 2021, the clubs have played 81 games since 1892 (8 games against Burslem Port Vale); overall, Crewe have won 20 games, Port Vale have won 38, with the teams drawing 23 games. The rivalry (known by some since the 1980s as the A500 Derby) intensified after the millennium, when both clubs were in Leagues One and Two, with close encounters sometimes resulting in violence and arrests. On 22 February 2014, Crewe beat Vale 3–1, at Vale Park and there was trouble before, during and after the game, with several arrests made and flares thrown on the pitch. In January 2015 at Vale Park, Crewe won 1–0 to seal their first league double over Port Vale, and two arrests were made at the game, with minor disturbances between rival fans after the match. Six arrests were made at Gresty Road during the 22 September 2018 meeting between the two sides. A 2019 study ranked the Port Vale-Crewe Alexandra rivalry as the 14th biggest rivalry in English professional football.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe also maintain smaller rivalries with Wrexham, Shrewsbury Town, Stoke City and traditional local Cheshire derbies with Macclesfield Town, Chester City, Stockport County and Tranmere Rovers. The Railwaymen's rivalry with Stockport intensified somewhat in 2009 when Stockport all but relegated Crewe from League One, after beating them 4–3 at Edgeley Park. Crewe then returned the favour on 30 April 2011, when they beat County 2–0 at Gresty Road, confirming County's relegation to non-League football.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe's fans were the first to sing the song "Blue Moon"―also sung by fans of Manchester City―(with lyrics that do not quite match the Rodgers and Hart original) and said to be a response to the gloomy days of the 1950s and 1960s, or reflecting an old joke that the team only wins 'once in a blue moon', ie, rarely. During the 1990s, one Crewe supporter, classically trained musician Richard Sutton, was known for taking a trumpet to games, playing occasional fanfares such as the theme from "Star Wars" during matches. The Crewe-based dance trio Dario G were named after Dario Gradi.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe supporters often sing a song featuring the line "We are the Railwaymen". Aggregating and formalising several former Crewe supporters groups, and supported by the national Football Supporters' Association, the independent Railwaymen Supporters Society was established in 2018, and incorporated as a community benefit society on 8 July 2019. Initiatives have included a campaign, Project250, to raise £250,000 to invest in club shares and gain representation on the club's board (achieved in February 2020), and the establishment of an Ex-Players Association (Gareth Whalley is its president).


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: As an early professional club in the late 19th century, several Crewe players achieved international selection, particularly for Wales. During the 20th century, however, Crewe had few stars. Welsh international Fred Keenor played his final league games for the club and his last international cap in 1932 was Crewe's first of the century. Some players started or developed their careers at Crewe before achieving fame elsewhere. For example, forward Frank Blunstone played 48 League games for Crewe in the early 1950s before a move to Chelsea and five England caps, Stan Bowles scored 18 Crewe goals in 51 games in the early 1970s and went on to play for Queens Park Rangers and England, and goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar played 24 Crewe matches at the start of the 1980s before moving to Liverpool.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: 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. This formed the starting point for a youth coaching facility, which by the early 1990s was coaching 120 youngsters every week. 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. In 1996, Crewe received a lottery grant to develop a youth coaching facility in nearby Shavington. By 2015, player sales had generated over £20 million which had contributed to modernising Gresty Road and developing Crewe's Academy, making it the only club outside the top two divisions to have a Category Two academy club; in 2022, it was ranked in the top 10 academies in England and Wales.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Players who passed through the ranks since establishment of the Academy include England internationals Geoff Thomas and David Platt, Wales international Robbie Savage, and Northern Ireland's Neil Lennon and Steve Jones. 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.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: 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. By the time club chairman John Bowler responded to the revelations, on Monday 21 November, six other individuals had contacted the police, with Woodward's Crewe teammate Steve Walters alleging he was another of Bennell's victims. Woodward criticised Crewe for failing to apologise. On 27 November 2016, a third former Crewe player, Anthony Hughes, revealed that he too had been abused by Bennell, as did Crewe trainee, later Wimbledon and Northern Ireland international Mark Williams.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Bennell was tried at Liverpool Crown Court in early 2018, and convicted of 50 offences of sexual abuse against 12 boys (and on 20 February 2018 was sentenced to 30 years in prison). After the guilty verdicts on 15 February, victims including Andy Woodward and Steve Walters read statements outside court. Crewe Alexandra expressed its "deepest sympathies" to Bennell's victims, saying it was not aware of any sexual abuse by Bennell nor had it received any complaint about sexual abuse by him before or during his employment with the club, though this has been disputed.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Walters accused Crewe of "victim blaming" in a bid to avoid compensation payouts. He and at least one other former Crewe player have launched High Court damages claims of upwards of £200,000 against the club; an eight-week trial is listed to start in October 2021. On 19 March 2019, the "Guardian" reported Crewe Alexandra planned to contest victims' claims, but later (27 March 2019), reported an apparent U-turn in Crewe's approach; it had agreed an out-of-court financial settlement with one of Bennell's victims. Andy Woodward had unsuccessfully sued Crewe for damages in 2004.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe were additionally criticised for not holding an independent review into how they dealt with historical child sex abuse allegations. In March 2018, the said that, as it had fully co-operated with police investigations, it did "not intend to commission a further independent investigation," and the police's report had also been supplied to the FA review headed by Clive Sheldon. This decision was criticised by local MP Laura Smith, by MP Damian Collins, chair of the DCMS select committee, by Crewe Town Council, and by the Professional Footballers Association's Gordon Taylor. In his final report, Sheldon said he "liaised with the Club and its lawyers with a view to suggesting other lines of enquiry that could usefully be followed up by the Club. Ultimately, the Club agreed to conduct those further enquiries, and provided me with a report setting out its conclusions."


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: The FA's 710-page report, published on 17 March 2021, identified failures to act adequately on complaints or rumours of sexual abuse at eight professional clubs including Crewe. Considering whether senior Crewe people knew about Bennell, Sheldon concluded they had not received specific reports of abuse. However, directors had discussed concerns about inappropriate behaviour, and the club "should have done more to check on the well-being of the boys". Following publication of the report, Crewe Alexandra apologised to all survivors of Bennell's abuse, expressing "wholehearted regret" about their ignorance of his crimes, and Gradi also apologised. With Gradi "effectively banned for life" from football for safeguarding reasons, Crewe chairman John Bowler was pressed to resign and did so on 25 March 2021.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe Alexandra have never won a division title, and have only been runners-up twice: in the Football League Second Division in 2002–03, and in League Two in 2019–20. Crewe's highest finishing league position was 11th in the First Division in 1997–98, the second tier.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: In the major cup competitions, Crewe reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1888. They 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.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: 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 won the Cheshire Senior Cup 19 times up to 1998, and have won it a further three times, most recently in 2017.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe's biggest league victory came against Rotherham United on 1 October 1932 in the Third Division North when they won 8–0. In the FA Cup, their biggest win was 9–1 over Northwich Victoria on 16 November 1889. 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, a game watched by 64,365: the largest crowd for a match involving Crewe. In the league, Crewe's worst performance saw them beaten 11–1 at Lincoln City on 29 September 1951 in the Third Division North.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Tommy Lowry made the most first team appearances in all competitions for Crewe: 482 between 1965 and 1977. Bert Swindells holds the record for most Crewe goals: 128, scored from 1927 to 1937, while Terry Harkin scored the most Crewe goals in a single season: 34 in 1964–65. 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.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: William Bell was the first Crewe player to win an international cap, playing for Wales against Ireland in Wrexham in February 1886. Clayton Ince, with 31 caps for Trinidad and Tobago, has won most caps while playing for Crewe. Efe Sodje is the only Crewe player to play in a World Cup Finals tournament, for Nigeria against Argentina, on 2 June 2002, and then against England on 12 June 2002, both in Japan.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Crewe's most expensive player was Rodney Jack, signed from Torquay United in August 1998 for £650,000. Crewe were reported to have received £3 million for Nick Powell when he moved to Manchester United on 2 July 2012, with options for the fee to grow to £6 million depending on appearances. Crewe also received £3 million for Seth Johnson's 1999 move to Derby County, and for Dean Ashton's move to Norwich City in 2005.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: In 2004 the BBC's "Football Focus" asked fans of all professional football clubs in England and Scotland to vote for their cult hero. For Crewe, Seth Johnson won with 59% of the vote; Danny Murphy came second with 33%, and Craig Hignett third with 8%.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: William Bell was the first Crewe player to win an international cap, playing for Wales against Ireland in Wrexham in February 1886. On 15 March 1890, three Crewe players – Alfred Davies (also Wales captain), Dick Jones and Billy Lewis – played in Wales's 3–1 defeat by England in Wrexham; Lewis scored Wales's goal, the first international goal scored by a Crewe player. John 'Jackie' Pearson became the first Crewe player to win an international cap for England, playing against Ireland in Belfast on 5 March 1892. He remains the only Crewe player capped for England while playing at the club. 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.


title: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

text: Since 1892, 27 men have managed Crewe. Dario Gradi holds the record for the most games: 1,359 first team games. Two Crewe managers have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame: Gradi in 2004 and Harry Catterick, posthumously, in 2010.


title: South African Premier Division

text: The South African Premier Division, officially referred to as the DStv Premiership for sponsorship purposes, is the premier men's professional football/soccer league and the highest division in the league system of South Africa, organized since 1996.


title: South African Premier Division

text: As the top-level division in South Africa, it is commonly referred to as the Premier Soccer League (PSL) – the administrator of association football in the country.


title: South African Premier Division

text: The league was founded in 1996 after an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnants of the National Professional Soccer League. It is stated on its website that the former name still exists today, but for legal purposes, with the "Premier Soccer League" being its trade name.


title: South African Premier Division

text: The league was reduced from 18 to 16 teams after the end of the 2001–02 season to avoid fixture congestion, causing the disbandment of two teams; Ria Stars and Free State Stars, though the latter was reformed and competing as of the 2020–21 season. In 2004, a match-fixing scandal rocked the football/soccer landscape in South Africa. An investigation codenamed "Operation Dribble" was launched by the police system of South Africa police in June 2004. More than 40 arrests were made, ranging from club bosses to match commissioners, referees and their assistants. Kaizer Chiefs successfully defended their league title in 2005 after they won the prestigious trophy in 2004 for the first time in a decade. The 2005–06 season saw Mamelodi Sundowns capturing the title for a fourth time. Since the 2017–18 season, they have dominated the league with winning league title after league title.


title: South African Premier Division

text: In 2007, the PSL signed a television deal with SuperSport worth R 1.6 billion, which was the biggest sporting deal in the history of the country and ranked the league into the top 15 in the world in terms of commercial broadcast deals. In the same year, ABSA replaced Castle Lager as the title sponsor, with the latter having sponsored the league since its inception. SuperSport United won 3 league titles in a row between 2008 and 2010.


title: South African Premier Division

text: As of May 2019, the league is rated as the 6th best in Africa according to the CAF 5-Year Ranking system.


title: South African Premier Division

text: For the 2018–19 season, the PSL gives each club a monthly grant of R 2 million, with funds coming from the television broadcasting rights and national sponsorships, with the league champion earning R 10 million.


title: South African Premier Division

text: In 2019, ABSA increased their sponsorship deal to the PSL to R 39.9 million, which meant that the league winners would secure R 15 million. ABSA would however announce its cancellation of its sponsorship with the PSL a year later on 4 June 2020.


title: South African Premier Division

text: On 24 September 2020, Dr. Irvin Khoza and MultiChoice announced on live television that the new sponsor would be "DStv", effectively rebranding the league as the DStv Premiership. MultiChoice also announced that Showmax would replace "DStv" as the jersey sponsor of SuperSport United F.C. so the latter would be independent to sponsor the league outright.


title: South African Premier Division

text: Association ranking for the 2021–22 CAF Champions League and the 2021–22 CAF Confederation Cup will be based on results from each CAF tournament from 2017 to 2020–21.


title: South African Premier Division

text: The league has had title sponsorships since its inception. Like the EFL Cup and the English Football League divisions in England, the league takes its title sponsor's name to determine its official common name:


title: South African Premier Division

text: As of the 2021–22 season, the league is composed of 16 teams competing from August to May each season, similar to the format of most European football leagues. Each team plays the other teams twice in a double round-robin format using the three points for a win system.


title: South African Premier Division

text: At the conclusion of each season, the champion and runner-up of the Premier Division qualify for the CAF Champions League, while the 3rd-place team and the Nedbank Cup champions qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup. The bottom team in the league is automatically relegated and replaced by the winner of the GladAfrica Championship, whiles the team finishing immediately above the bottom team enters a mini-league playoff series with the 2nd and 3rd-placed league-finished teams of the GladAfrica Championship, with the playoff winners earning their place in the Premiership for the following season.


title: South African Premier Division

text: The league's broadcaster is SuperSport, who in turn sub-leases the broadcasting rights to the SABC, so as to broadcast some matches on public television in South Africa. SuperSport was awarded an initial $277 million 5-year broadcast/TV rights deal in 2007 by the Premier Soccer League to help commercialize the league globally beyond South Africa. matches on sunset times between Tuesdays and Fridays and on weekends whereas the SABC telecast matches played on Wednesday nights and on weekends.


title: South African Premier Division

text: Since 2016, as SuperSport is a brand owned by the MultiChoice Group, the league is available to watch live and on demand via their specified services; the DStv App (formerly "DStv Mobile" and "DStv Now") and Showmax Pro. Both are accessible via the DStv website for PC and Mac and as mobile apps on Android and iOS/iPadOS for mobile phones, tablets and Smart TVs.


title: South African Premier Division

text: NB: list includes all players who have scored at least 100 goals in the PSL era. Also includes cup competitions.


title: JB Blanc

text: Jean-Benoît Blanc is a French-British actor and director of film and television who has worked on animations and video games in Los Angeles.


title: JB Blanc

text: Blanc was born in Paris, the son of an English mother and a French father. He moved to England with his mother at the age of five, where he was educated at Bramcote School in Scarborough, North Yorkshire and Sedbergh School in Sedbergh, Cumbria. At the age of 16, he successfully auditioned for the National Youth Theatre. In 1987, he was accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the youngest person to do so that year. He graduated in 1990 and, after a short sabbatical travelling, began his theatre career.


title: JB Blanc

text: At one time, Blanc helped run the Arts Threshold theatre company and was working with companies on the London scene, collaborating with directors, including Rufus Norris, Howard Davies and Peter Hall at the Royal National Theatre. In 2001, after 12 years almost exclusively working in theatre, he played Luigi Vampa in "The Count of Monte Cristo" for Touchstone. Since moving to the United States, he has appeared in television series such as "Barry", "Masters Of Sex", "Shameless", "Nikita", "Breaking Bad", "Better Call Saul", "Cold Case", "", "Raising the Bar", "The Unit", "Crash", "NYPD Blue", "Prison Break", "Dr. Vegas", and "The Company".


title: JB Blanc

text: Blanc has appeared in films, including "The Incredible Hulk", "Tristan & Isolde", "" and "Moonlight Serenade". He has done voice-work for video games such as "", "Dante's Inferno", "Darksiders", "Wildstar" and "James Bond 007: From Russia with Love", in which he played Turkish agent Kerim Bey. In 2013, he voiced Zinyak and Phillipe Loren in "Saints Row IV". In 2014, he voiced Commander Kuben Blisk in "Titanfall". He is currently voicing Caustic in "Apex Legends".


title: JB Blanc

text: Blanc is a leading voice director in video games and directs both live action performance capture and voice over on many of the top AAA titles.


title: Warthog

text: Phacochoerus is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced "wart-hog"). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly considered conspecific under the scientific name "Phacochoerus aethiopicus", but today this is limited to the desert warthog, while the best-known and most widespread species, the common warthog (or simply warthog), is "Phacochoerus africanus".


title: Warthog

text: Although covered in bristly hairs, their bodies and heads appear largely naked from a distance, with only the crest along the back, and the tufts on their cheeks and tails being obviously haired. The English name refers to their facial wattles, which are particularly distinct in males. They also have very distinct tusks, which reach a length of in the males, but are always smaller in the females. They are largely herbivorous, but occasionally also eat small animals. While both species remain fairly common and widespread, and therefore are considered to be of Least Concern by the IUCN, the nominate subspecies of the desert warthog, commonly known as the Cape warthog, became extinct around 1865.


title: Warthog

text: The genus "Phacochoerus" contains two species. The two species emerged from ecological barriers. "P. africanus" were found with a lack of upper incisors, while "P. aethiopicus" were found with a full set.


title: Unitary parliamentary republic

text: A unitary parliamentary republic refers to a unitary state with a republican form of government in which the political power is vested in and entrusted to the parliament with confidence by its electorate.


title: Braid

text: A braid (also referred to as a plait) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing two or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.


title: Braid

text: The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-stranded structure. More complex patterns can be constructed from an arbitrary number of strands to create a wider range of structures (such as a fishtail braid, a five-stranded braid, rope braid, a French braid and a waterfall braid). The structure is usually long and narrow with each component strand functionally equivalent in zigzagging forward through the overlapping mass of the others. It can be compared with the process of weaving, which usually involves two separate perpendicular groups of strands (warp and weft).


title: Braid

text: Historically, the materials used have depended on the indigenous plants and animals available in the local area. During the Industrial Revolution, mechanized braiding equipment was invented to increase production. The braiding technique was used to make ropes with both natural and synthetic fibers as well as coaxial cables for radios using copper wire. In more recent times it has been used to create a covering for fuel pipes in jet aircraft and ships (first using glass fibre, then stainless steel and Kevlar). Hoses for domestic plumbing are often covered with stainless steel braid.


title: Braid

text: The oldest known reproduction of hair braiding may go back about 30,000 years: the Venus of Willendorf, a female figurine estimated to have been made between about 28,000 and 25,000 BC in modern-day Austria. The Venus of Brassempouy from the southwest of France is estimated to be about 25,000 years old and shows a braided hairstyle.


title: Braid

text: Although many cultures want to take sole credit for the braid, they cannot be traced to a single origin. Like how different versions of Cinderella are traceable to nearly every culture, braids, too, are polygenetic. One early example of hair braiding takes place in 1279-1213 bce as recorded in the story of Isis: "when some of the queen's maidens came to the well, she greeted them kindly and began to braid their hair."


title: Braid

text: During the Bronze Age and Iron Age many peoples in the Near East, Asia Minor, Caucasus, East Mediterranean and North Africa are depicted in art with braided or plaited hair and beards. Similarly, the practice is recorded in Europe, Africa, India, China, Japan, Australasia and Central Asia.


title: Braid

text: Braiding is traditionally a social art. Because of the time it takes to braid hair, people have often taken time to socialize while braiding and having their hair braided. It begins with the elders making simple knots and braids for younger children. Older children watch and learn from them, start practicing on younger children, and eventually learn the traditional designs. This carries on a tradition of bonding between elders and the new generation.


title: Braid

text: Early braids had many uses, such as costume decoration, animal regalia (like camel girths), sword decoration, bowls and hats (from palm leaves), locks (such as those made in Japan to secure precious tea supplies through the use of elaborate knots), and weapons (e.g. slings).


title: Braid

text: Materials that are used in braids can vary depending on local materials. For instance, South Americans used the very fine fibers from the wool of alpaca and llama, while North American people made use of bison fibers. Throughout the world, vegetable fibers such as grass, nettle, and hemp have been used to create braids. In China, Korea, and Japan silk still remains the main material used. In the Americas, the braiding of leather is also common. Plaiting with kangaroo leather has been a widely practiced tradition in rural Australia since pioneering times. It is used in the production of fine leather belts, hatbands, bridles, dog leads, bullwhips, stockwhips, etc. Other leathers are used for the plaiting of heavier products suitable for everyday use.


title: Braid

text: For nomadic peoples, braiding was a practical means of producing useful and decorative textiles. In other areas, such as the Pacific islands (where leaves and grasses are braided), and for many hill tribes, braids are made using minimal equipment. It was only when braiding became a popular occupation in the home or school, as it is in China and Japan, and when the Industrial Revolution came about, that specific tools were developed to increase production and make it easier to produce more complicated patterns of braids.


title: Braid

text: Braids are also very good for making rope and decorative objects. Complex braids have been used to create hanging fibre artworks.


title: Braid

text: Gold braids and silver braids are components or trims of many kinds of formal dress, including military uniform (in epaulettes, aiguillettes, on headgear).


title: Braid

text: Braiding creates a composite rope that is thicker and stronger than the non-interlaced strands of yarn. Braided ropes are preferred by arborists, rock climbers, and in sport sailing because they do not twist under load, as does an ordinary twisted-strand rope. These ropes consist of one or more concentric tubular braided jackets surrounding either several small twisted fibre cords, or a single untwisted yarn of straight fibres, and are known as Kernmantle ropes.


title: Braid

text: In electrical and electronic cables, "braid" is a tubular sheath made of braided strands of metal placed around a central cable for shielding against electromagnetic interference. The braid is grounded while the central conductor(s) carries the signal. The braid may be used in addition to a foil jacket to increase shielding and durability. Litz wire uses braids of thin insulated wires to carry high frequency signals with much lower losses from skin effect or to minimise proximity effect in transformers. Flat braids made of many copper wires can also be used for flexible electrical connections between large components. The numerous smaller wires comprising the braid are much more resistant to breaking under repeated motion and vibration than is a cable of larger wires. A common example of this may be found connecting a car battery's negative terminal to the metal chassis.


title: Braid

text: Similar braiding is used on pressurized hoses, such as in plumbing and hydraulic brake systems in automobiles. Braiding is also used for fibres for composite reinforcements.


title: Braid

text: A property of the basic braid is that removing one strand unlinks the other two, as they are not twisted around each other. Mathematically, a braid with that property is called a Brunnian braid.


title: Braid

text: Braids are often used figuratively to represent interweaving or combination, such as in, "He braided many different ideas into a new whole."


title: Braid

text: In some river and stream systems, small streams join and redivide in many places. Such stream systems are said to be braided. These are often found in alluvial fans at the outlet of canyons. This is a result of heavy sediment deposition at high flows followed by re-erosion at low flows.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: The British Rail Class 43 (HST) is the TOPS classification used for the InterCity 125 "High Speed Train" (formerly Classes 253 and 254) power cars, built by British Rail Engineering Limited from 1975 to 1982, and in service in the UK since 1976.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: The class is officially the fastest diesel locomotive in the world, with an absolute maximum speed of , and a regular service speed of . The record run was led by 43102 (43302) and trailed by 43159.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: In the early 1970s, the British Railways Board made the decision to replace its main-line express diesel traction. Financial limitations were tight, so mass electrification was not possible. As a result, a new generation of high-speed diesel trains had to be developed.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: Experience with the high-speed Class 55 "Deltic" locomotives had shown that a low axle weight was essential to avoid damage to the track at sustained high speed, and that high-speed engines were the only way to provide a good enough power-to-weight ratio for diesels. To power the HST at up to , each power car had a new diesel engine, the 12-cylinder Paxman Valenta, running at 1,500 rpm and developing . The 70-tonne weight of the power car gave it a 17.5-tonne axle loading.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: The prototype set was developed at the Railway Technical Centre, Derby, the power cars having been constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited's (BREL) Crewe Works and the British Rail Mark 3 passenger cars by BREL's Derby Litchurch Lane Works. The engine used in the prototype power cars was the Paxman 'Valenta' 12RP200L, which developed . The electrical equipment was supplied by Brush. The power cars had a main driver's position at one aerodynamically shaped end with the other flat and gangwayed end having only an auxiliary driving position for shunting purposes.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: The two prototype power cars emerged from the works in June and August 1972 and were initially numbered 41001 and 41002, but after a short period the entire set, including the passenger coaches, became reclassified as a diesel-electric multiple unit: British Rail Class 252. The power cars were given the coaching stock numbers 43000 and 43001. After proving trials on the Eastern Region the prototype High Speed Diesel Train (HSDT) was transferred to the Western Region, where it was deployed on Paddington Bristol/Weston-super-Mare services.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: In May 2011 the National Railway Museum (NRM) announced that the remaining HST prototype power car 41001 would undergo full restoration work. A long-term loan was agreed between the NRM and the 125 Group of volunteers for the locomotive and a Paxman Valenta RP200L engine. The replacement engine (no. S508) was required as the original Valenta engine (no. S183) had been sectioned for display purposes. The S508 engine was lifted into the locomotive at Neville Hill TMD on 29 June 2012. The loan agreement ended in November 2019 and 41001 returned to the NRM.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: In order to facilitate a main line move, Class 41 prototype HST power car 41001 was re-registered as a Class 43/9 locomotive, with the number 43000. It is the only locomotive in this sub-class.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: The design was successful and led to production orders being placed for similar trains for the Western, Eastern, Scottish and London Midland regions. The production power cars featured a redesigned front end without conventional buffers, although a rigid drawbar can be used to connect an HST to an ordinary locomotive. Following the introduction of production HST sets, the prototype unit was withdrawn, the power cars passing to the Research Division at Derby. Of the ten prototype coaches, two were adapted for use in the Royal Train, five were modified for use with the production HSTs, and three were transferred to Departmental stock.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: The 197 power cars produced are numbered 43002-43198. 43001 was applied to the second of the two prototype power cars, while the first of the pair (now preserved at the NRM; formerly operational on the GCR) became 43000, which is unusual because BR TOPS classification numbered its locomotives from 001 upwards (this was because it was not, at the time, classified as a locomotive).


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: In 1987, as electrification of the East Coast Main Line was under way, British Rail realised that the new Mark 4 carriages for the Class 89 and Class 91 locomotives were not going to be finished in time for the introduction of electric services on the East Coast Main Line so, in late 1987, a total of eight Eastern Region power cars (Numbers 43013/014/065/067/068/080/084/123) conversions (on 43014/123) were carried out at the Derby Engineering Development Unit, whilst the other six (43013/065/067/068/080/084) were converted by the diesel repair shop at Stratford to have the lower valancing removed and buffers fitted.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: After being fitted with buffers, these power cars began work as surrogate DVTs to work with the Class 91s and 89. The locomotives, working with conventional Mk3 stock, worked on the line between 1987 and 1991, when the last Class 91 locomotives entered service. As well as buffers being fitted to these power cars, special remote control equipment was also added to the locomotives so they could be controlled by the locomotive at the front. Once these locomotives left DVT duties, the remote equipment was removed.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: After privatisation, these power cars joined the Virgin Trains fleet working both Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin Trains West Coast routes, where they displaced loco-hauled stock. All the units were repainted from their original InterCity colours to the Virgin red livery. Later, Virgin Trains withdrew the HSTs when new Class 220 and 221 units were delivered, and nearly all of these power cars went into storage at Long Marston.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: After years of storage, several of the power cars were bought by Midland Mainline to be part of Project Rio, special services running from London St Pancras to Manchester while major engineering works were undertaken on the West Coast Main Line. These units were kept in the de-branded Virgin Trains livery throughout their time with Midland Mainline and put back in storage once Project Rio had finished in 2006.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: 43013 and 43014 joined Network Rail's New Measurement Train in 2003 and have continued to work with this service ever since. Both of these units have now had MTU engines fitted.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: 43080 was leased to GNER as a one-off power car, working as a spare unit that could be easily called for if an HST failed. For most of its time with GNER, it was based at Craigentinny yard in Edinburgh and was painted into GNER colours. This locomotive's lease ended in 2006 and it was returned to storage at Long Marston.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: In 2007, Grand Central took an interest in the stored power cars and amalgamated them into its fleet of three HST sets. In total, 43065/067/068/080/084/123 were bought by the company and ran high-speed services between Sunderland and London Kings Cross. HSTs 43084 and 43123 were the final operational Paxman Valenta power cars, being re-engined in 2010 with the MTU treatment. While at the works being re-engined, Grand Central added the orange stripe that appears on its Class 180 units, re-painted the front ends (making them look more like the non-buffered HSTs), and re-numbered the power cars into the four-hundreds. These are the current numbers: 43465 (065)/467 (067)/468 (068)/480 (080)/484 (084)/423 (123). They were withdrawn from Grand Central service in 2017 after more Class 180s were acquired.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: British Rail experimented with Mirrlees Blackstone MB190 engines in four Western region examples (43167–43170) between 1987 and 1996, but this experiment was unsuccessful and the standard Paxman Valenta engines re-installed.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: Paxman began development of the Valenta's successor, the Paxman VP185, in 1987. The suggestion that British Rail participate in a trial of the new VP185 engine in the IC125 was first mooted in January 1991, and a formal agreement for the trial was signed in May 1993.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: A qualifying requirement for the trial was that the engine should undergo a British Rail Type Test which was carried out between December 1993 and February 1994. The test involved completion of 3,000 cycles, each of 10 minutes duration, with four minutes at the maximum power of and six minutes at idle, simulating the typical 'on-off' nature of IC125 duty. The test was much more severe than operational duty, where the train operates at a maximum of . The successful results of the test cleared the way for installation of a VP185 in Power Car 43170 at Plymouth Laira Depot for in-service trials in the summer of 1994. Power car 43170 entered service on 22 September 1994. 43170 was given the nameplate "Edward Paxman".


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: During the late 1990s twenty-five HST power cars were re-engined with Paxman VP185 engines in order to improve fuel consumption and reduce emissions.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: The last VP185 engine to be manufactured at Paxman's Colchester Works was despatched from the factory on 15 September 2003 as part of a programme to convert 14 Midland Mainline power cars to VP185 engines to supplement the four already converted during 1994/95, and this led to 43043/045/048-050/052/055/060/061/072/073/076/082 joining 43047/059/074/075 with this engine type.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: Today there are no production power cars fitted with a Paxman Valenta engine, although the 125 Group have reinstalled a Paxman Valenta in the surviving prototype power car, 41001 (formerly 43000).


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: In 2007, Brush Traction and Hitachi equipped Paxman Valenta powered 43089 and a semi-permanently coupled Mark 3 coach with a diesel-battery hybrid power system for experimental trials. The power car was named "Hayabusa" ("Hayabusa", はやぶさ, Japanese for Peregrine falcon, project name 'V-Train 2'). It returned to normal service with East Midlands Trains.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: The HST, having been in operation since the late 1970s, is due for replacement by the Hitachi Super Express. The development cycle for the replacement series is such that the existing fleet may be required to operate through to 2019 or beyond.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: When Crewe Works built them, the InterCity 125 units were considered to be diesel multiple units, and were allocated Classes 253 and 254 for Western and Eastern Region services respectively. The locomotives were introduced in the Midland region later.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: Until the HST's introduction, the maximum speed of British trains was limited to 100 mph (160 km/h). The increased speed and rapid acceleration and deceleration of the HST made it ideal for passenger use, and it slashed journey times around the country. The prototype InterCity 125 (power cars 43000 and 43001) set the world record for diesel traction at 143 mph (230 km/h) on 12 June 1973. An HST also holds the world speed record for a diesel train carrying passengers. On 27 September 1985, a special press run for the launch of a new Tees-Tyne Pullman service from Newcastle to London King's Cross, formed of a shortened 2+5 set, briefly touched north of York.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: During 1987, eight HST power cars were converted for use as driving van trailers (DVTs) with Class 91 locomotives during trials on the East Coast Main Line. The power cars were fitted with buffers and time-division multiplex equipment that allowed them to directly control a Class 91, and were moved over to the ECML where they were used on workings with Class 89 and then Class 91 locomotives from London to Leeds. After the Mk 4 stock had been delivered, the HST power cars had the TDM equipment removed, and then reverted to their normal duties. The power cars used for this project can be easily identified as they are still fitted with buffers. They were then transferred to Virgin Cross Country, and put in storage when Virgin replaced its HST fleet with Bombardier Voyagers (though Arriva, upon later taking over the franchise, acquired 10 power cars, 4 of which were buffered). Grand Central bought six of these for services from Sunderland to London, the remaining two having been integrated into Network Rail's New Measurement Train.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: After the privatisation of British Rail the HST sets continued to be used. 193 of the 197 locomotives built remain in service. The four units that are not in service, 43173, 43011, 43019 and 43140, were written off by fatal rail accidents in 1997, 1999, 2004 and 2020 respectively.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: All HSTs operating with Great Western Railway, London North Eastern Railway were replaced by Class 800/801/802s in 2018/2019. Twenty-seven sets each with four or five carriages moved from Great Western Railway to Abellio ScotRail and be refurbished with controlled emission tanks and plug automatic doors. They will operate on services from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Aberdeen and Inverness. The first two were delivered to Craigentinny TMD for crew training in September 2017. The first entered service in October 2018.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: Great Western Railway retained 24 power cars to form 11 four-carriage formations known as "Castle Class" sets for use on local services between Cardiff and Penzance.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: GB Railfreight have expressed interest in the possibility of converting displaced HST sets for use carrying parcels and other mail.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: In 2021, RailAdventure acquired the six 43/4 power cars, plus an additional two for spares, for use on stock movements as part of its entrance into the UK market through the acquisition of Hanson and Hall Rail Services. Two were exported to Germany in September 2021.


title: British Rail Class 43 (HST)

text: On 25 November 2022, Great Western Railway announced they would be retiring their ‘Castle’ fleet. The withdrawals are expected to take place over the next few years.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon operators

text: The United States Air Force (USAF), four of its NATO partners, and Pakistan, a major non-NATO US ally, are the primary operators of General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. With the evolution of sales under Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contracts, many other air forces have also acquired F-16s. Most nations that have bought F-16s continue to use them as of 2010.


text: The F-16 is still in demand today, and many air forces are looking to replace aging inventories with F-16s. Because the USAF has steadily upgraded its F-16 inventory, it will sometimes sell older aircraft it considers obsolete as surplus Excess Defense Articles (EDAs) or as "knockdown" aircraft to supplement spares inventories.


text: Several commands of the United States Air Force (USAF) as well as the United States Navy (USN) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) use various models of the F-16 Fighting Falcon.


text: In 2007 the USAF operated 1,245 F-16s with 701 with active forces, 490 with Air National Guard and 54 with Reserve. These were broken down to 1 F-16A Block 15, 197 F-16C/D Block 25, 350 F-16C/D Block 30, 51 F-16C/D Block 32, 222 F-16C/D Block 40, 174 F-16C/D Block 42, 198 F-16C/D Block 50, 52 F-16C/D Block 52. The USAF service branch has received a total of 2,231 F16s to its arsenal.


text: Air Combat Command (ACC) is the descendant of the merger of the Tactical Air Command (TAC) and Strategic Air Command (SAC). ACC is the primary combat aircraft operator of the United States Air Force. Originally, all new F-16s would be delivered to TAC or ACC and then transferred to other commands, but now aircraft are often delivered directly to the other commands.


text: The Air Education and Training Command (AETC) provides for most of the US Air Force's F-16 training facilities and operations. The command also provides for training of foreign air forces operating the F-16, with two squadrons providing training for Singapore and Taiwan.


text: The descendant of the merger of the Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) and the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC), Air Force Materiel Command is responsible for providing, testing, and maintaining US Air Force equipment. As such, it plays a large part in the F-16 program, both in testing the aircraft and its weapon systems. It utilizes the F-16 for numerous tests for weapons equipping many US Air Force aircraft. Additionally, it operates overhaul programs to maintain the F-16 fleet of not only the US Air Force, but several foreign air forces as well.


text: The delivery of the F-16 to the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) marked the first aircraft type to be delivered new, changing the long policy of merely passing older airframes on from the active forces to the Air Force Reserve. AFRC currently operates Block 25, 30, and 32 aircraft.


text: As with the Air Force Reserve, the F-16 marked the transition of the Air National Guard (ANG) to a viable fighting force complementary to active-duty units, as opposed to the second-line force of out-of-date aircraft it had been. The F-16 remains a key part of the ANG force structure.


text: Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) was an early recipient of the F-16 and PACAF operates the latest models of the F-16 today.


text: Once PACAF began receiving its F-16, US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) became a recipient of the F-16. USAFE F-16s have been common participants in most recent US military operations in Europe and the Middle East.


text: While the United States Navy chose the competing McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet for development as a carrier-based strike fighter, the service still had a need for an aggressor aircraft to supplement the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and Northrop F-5E Tiger II aircraft posing as enemy fighters to help train Navy pilots in dissimilar air combat training (DACT). The lightweight F-16 was ideal for the job, and the F-16N version was specifically developed for the task. With removal of the internal cannon (compensated by ballast), the F-16N and two-seat TF-16N served for a number of years before retirement. The F-16 was reintroduced to the aggressor role for the US Navy with the acquisition of some of the Pakistani F-16A/B-15OCU aircraft embargoed before delivery to that country and they remain in use today at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) at NAS Fallon, Nevada. The US Navy operates 40 F-16s.


text: Though not a military force, NASA plays a vital role in research and development of aerospace technology. Its fleet contains two exotic F-16 models (bailed from USAF), the F-16XL and F-16A AFTI, both involved in researching advanced technologies for application to not only the F-16, but other aircraft as well. Additionally, a number of standard F-16s have been operated by NASA as chase aircraft and engine testbeds.


text: Once selected by the United States, it was further decided to form a partnership between the United States Air Force, then beginning development of the plane for service, and nations of the NATO alliance who had a similar need for a lightweight fighter. Four such nations chose to join the development effort, becoming involved in production and sub-contracting work. The four European partners, collectively known as the European Participating Governments (EPG), are Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway; their air forces are likewise referred to as the European Participating Air Forces (EPAF).


text: Belgium was the largest initial buyer of the F-16 of the four original NATO partners. Its aeronautical company, SABCA, was a primary producer of the aircraft as part of the partnership. Belgium's initial order included 116 F-16A/B aircraft in blocks 1, 5, 10, and 15. Delivery began in 1979, and was completed in 1985. A follow-on order for 44 F-16A/B-15OCU aircraft was completed in 1991. Most of the Danish F-16s were also manufactured in Belgium. Many of the Belgian and Danish F-16s received the MLU update at SABCA.


text: Denmark was the smallest member of the NATO partnership, with the Royal Danish Air Force accepting 58 F-16A/B aircraft under Denmark's initial order on January 28, 1980. A small follow-on order brought a further twelve aircraft to Denmark, and two further attrition replacement orders were later placed, resulting in a total of 62 F-16AM and 16 F-16BM that entered Danish service.


text: The Netherlands, like Belgium, made substantial orders for the F-16, and built aircraft at the Fokker plant. Deliveries started in 1979 and ended in 1992. A total of 102 aircraft were initially ordered, but these were followed by substantial follow-on orders for a total of 111 additional aircraft. Fifty-two of these were F-16A/B-15OCU aircraft. These orders brought the total Dutch F-16A/B deliveries to 213. One-hundred-and-eight of them received the Mid-Life-Update (MLU).


text: Norway joined the original NATO-USAF partnership to replace its ageing Lockheed F-104 Starfighter squadrons. In 1975, Norway placed an order for 72 F-16A/B aircraft which was delivered between 1980 and 1984. Unlike the other partners, there have been no follow-up orders, except for a single order in 1989 for two F-16B-15OCU aircraft as replacements for crashed aircraft. All the aircraft have received the Mid-Life-Update (MLU), and the new helmet-mounted sighting system. On 6 January 2022, Norway announced that all of its F-16s had been retired.


text: After protracted negotiations the Hellenic Air Force ordered the F-16 in 1985. FMS program PEACE XENIA was begun with delivery of 40 F-16C/D Block 30 aircraft in 1989 and 1990. This was followed by an order for 40 F-16C/D Block 50 fighters, delivered in 1997 and 1998. In June 2000 a further order for 50 F-16C/D Block 52+ aircraft was made with an option of 10 more fighters, exercised in September 2001. All 60 aircraft (40 C-model aircraft and 20 missionized D-model) were delivered by June 2004. In December 2005 the Greek government signed an LOA for the delivery of 30 additional F-16C/D Block 52M with a not exercised option on 10 more. The latest batch consists of 20 C-models and 10 D-models, while deliveries were completed in 2009.


text: On 28 April 2018, Greece decided to upgrade 85 of its F-16 to the F-16V standard. On 17 January 2021, Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) upgraded first F-16C to the latest F-16V standard. The Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) will upgrade 12 F-16 to the latest F-16V standard per year.


text: One of the former members of the Warsaw Pact that was looking to replace an aging fleet of Soviet-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (withdrawn in service in 1999 due to their small numbers and uneconomical operation) and the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighters (withdrawn from service in 2003), Poland conducted a competition between the Mirage 2000-5 Mk.2, the JAS 39 Gripen, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 (the last offer was withdrawn), and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Despite a strong challenge by the BAe/SAAB team, Poland purchased 48 F-16C/D-52+ aircraft. The aircraft were delivered from 2006 under the PEACE SKY program, to avoid confusion with the PZL W-3 Sokół (Polish language "Falcon") helicopter, these jet fighters were nicknamed the F-16 "Jastrząb" (Goshawk) in Polish. Now, the F-16, along with 32 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 fighters and 48 Sukhoi Su-22 ground attack aircraft are the main offensive strike force for Polish Air Force.