Crewe Alexandra players you forgot played for England
By Alex Greensmith
5th Oct 2024 | Local News
The football international break is back again next week.
England will face Greece at Wembley Stadium, on Thursday, October 10, and Lee Carsley's side head to Helsinki to face Finland on Sunday, October 13.
So to get Crewe in the international spirit of cheering on our country, we at Crewe Nub News thought we would look back, and profile some famous Crewe Alexandra players, to have turned out for England.
To qualify for this list, they can either have played for the Three Lions while also on the books at Crewe, or while they were not. As long as they have played for Crewe Alexandra, and England, they qualify for this list.
So let us get started!
Dean Ashton
First up on the list is a one cap wonder, who certainly would not have been if his career was not tragically cut short.
Forward Dean Ashton was a product of Dario Gradi's renowned youth academy, making his debut as a teenager in a 1-0 victory over Gillingham.
The Wiltshire-born striker turned out for Crewe from 2000 to 2005, netting 74 goals in all competitions across 177 appearances. His goals included nine in the promotion campaign from the Second Division to the First Division, where he would go on to score 19 and 18 league goals respectively in the following seasons.
His best goals per game ratio in the 2004-05 season, led to Premier League interest, with Norwich City signing Ashton in their ill-fated relegation campaign in the 2004-05 season.
At the time, the £3 million pound the Canaries paid for the Crewe star in January 2005, was a club record. Despite netting 7 goals in 19 games - a commendable feat for a relegated club - it was not enough to prevent the Delia Smith-owned club from falling back down to the Championship, a league he had played in with Crewe.
West Ham United would sign Ashton in 2005, but injury plighted his five seasons with the Hammers, and would signpost the end of his career.
Ashton was first called up by England manager Steve McClaren to face Greece [coincidentally the team England are playing next Thursday], but did not take part in the 4-0 victory. This was because the former Crewe player received a strong tackle from midfielder Shaun Wright-Phillips, that broke his ankle.
He finally made his one and only England appearance on June 1 2008, in the starting line-up for Fabio Capello's 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago.
His last ever appearance as a professional footballer was just two months later.
The 2006 ankle injury would haunt the rest of his career, and lead to his retirement in the 2009-10 season, where he had not played a minute.
Dairo Gradi even declared that Dean Ashton would have played in the 2010 World Cup for England, if not his injury.
Given England's lack of goals in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, it is easy to daydream about what could have been.
But that does not mean a Crewe player has never played for England at the World Cup. Speaking of...
David Platt
Getting the obvious - and the English one out of the way first. David Platt was known for gols at Gresty Road.
The midfielder scored 56 goals in 134 appearances for The Railwaymen. He played for the club from 1985 to 1988, and would get his first England cap the following year when he moved to Aston Villa.
His time in Crewe in the Fourth Division kickstarted his professional career, and would become a household name as part of Sir Bobby Robson's England squad in the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
Platt would play in two group stage matches, but is best remembered for his incredible volley and first England goal in the match against Belgium.
The extra-time winner can be viewed below:
What a way to score your first England goal!
Platt then made his first start of the tournament in the quarter-final against Cameroon, and headed in the opening goal in the 3-2 victory. He started the semi-final, headed in a disallowed goal against the Germans, and ended up on the losing side.
But the ex-Crewe player did register his third goal of the tournament in the third-place play-off loss to Italy.
He played 62 times for England scoring 27 times, and retiring from international duty in 1996.
As a player Platt won the UEFA Cup with Juventus, the Coppa Italia with Sampdoria, and the Premier League / FA Cup double with Arsenal in 1997-98.
Platt retired from playing in 2001, and was first team coach for Manchester City when they won their first-ever Premier League.
In 2022, Platt gave a candid interview about his decision to leave Crewe.
Danny Murphy
Chester-born Danny Murpy turned out for Crewe Alexandra from 1993 to 1997. He scored 35 times in 165 appearances, across all competitions.
The Crewe youth product became a Premier League player with Liverpool in 1997, and was temporarily loaned back to The Alex in 1999.
The midfielder was an England youth international from under 18 level, however, it was not until 2001, aged 24, when he was first capped for the senior side.
The late Sven-Göran Eriksson called up the former Crewe Alex player, capping him nine times.
Danny Murphy was set to make the 2002 England squad until an injury ruled him out.
His sole England goal would come in 2002, against Paraguay, scoring the second goal in a 4-0 victory.
He played in the Premier League for four more clubs until his retirement in 2013, but could not catch the eye of subsequent England managers Steve McClaren, Fabio Capello or Roy Hodgson.
Today, the former Crewe hero is a familiar face on the BBC Sport.
Stan Bowles
A sad start to with this one, as it is about a former Crewe player that passed away this year.
Stan Bowles is a former Crewe and England player who passed away in February 2024.
Throughout his career, he would be managed by big names like Brian Clough and Joe Mercer.
Crewe was the third club in his career, after starting with Manchester City and Bury.
Crewe manager Ernie Tagg signed the outfielder in 1970, when Crewe played in the Fourth Division.
The pair would have a father-son like relationship, hanging out at Tagg's pub The Vine, which helped Bowles fight his gambling addiction.
He scored 18 goals in 51 league games for The Railwaymen, which saw him jump two divisions up to join Carlisle United in 1971.
In 1972, he would join Queen's Park Rangers, where he would receive his five England caps from 1974 to 1977.
His debut was the last match 1966 World Cup winning-manager Alf Ramsey coached. And he would briefly be reunited in an England shirt with his ex-Manchester City boss Joe Mercer, when Mercer was caretaker manager.
However, 1974 to 1977, the period of Bowles' five England caps, was not a happy time for England's national football team. England did not qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup or UEFA Euro 1976.
Earlier this year, Crewe Alexandra described Bowles as: "Simply one of the most brilliant players to grace Gresty Road."
According to The Sentinel, Bowles was a cousin of Paul Bowles, who also played for The Alex.
Seth Johnson
Seth Johnson was associated with Crewe Alexandra from 1994 to 1999, and in the latter year helped Crewe stave off relegation.
Unfortunately, for those who have made it this far into the article, this entry will read a lot like the Dean Ashton one.
Another high-flying Crewe youth prospect, who sadly had their career curtailed early, Seth Johnson is another former Crewe footballer who was capped only once for England.
The Birmingham-born midfielder was an England Under 21 international from 1998 to 2002, sadly for him and Crewe fans who like to see their old players do well, his spell with the senior side was shorter.
Just one year after he left Crewe Alexandra for Derby, England caretaker manager Peter Taylor called him up, which the former Crewe player described as a 'shock'.
Derby were bottom of the league at the time of his call-up. His sole appearance came as a 73 minute substitute, in the 1-0 loss to Italy, where he had a shot. However, he could not score past future World Cup winner Gianluigi Buffon.
After a short stint at Leeds United, he returned to a former club but it was not Crewe. Johnson stayed with Derby until 2007, and retired from injury aged only 28.
As well as the hall of one cap wonders, Seth also holds the small honour that no other player called Seth has been called up for England since.
Rob Jones
With Crewe having reignited their rivalry with Wrexham last season, you may have recently become aware of this fact.
Wrexham-born Rob Jones is one of few people born in Wales to have represented the Three Lions.
The sole defender on this list, grew up in Ellesmere Port.
He started his career with Crewe Alex, ending a four-year association with the club aged 19, in 1991.
Like Danny Murphy would go on to do later in the decade, Jones transferred to Anfield and played almost 200 times for Liverpool.
He won two cups with Liverpool, and shined for the club in the early Premier League era. Graham Taylor to called him up for the Three Lions just four months after he left Crewe, but injury kept him out of Euro 1992.
He earned the last of his eight caps with Terry Venables, but was not selected for England's home tournament of Euro 1996,
He retired at West Ham United, shortly before the turn of the millennium.
Geoff Thomas
Manchester-born midfielder Geoff Thomas MBE made Crewe his second club in 1984.
Dairo Gradi signed him on a free transfer, and proved his worth as a goal-scoring midfielder who is the only player on this list to have returned to Crewe Alexandra on a permanent basis.
His first spell at Gresty Road ended in 1987, as he was snapped up by Crystal Palace.
It was during his spell with the Selhurst Park club, when he would captain the side to an FA Cup silver medal in 1990.
His relatively minor England career is perhaps remembered for a howler of a miss, that can be viewed above.
He put on the Three Lions shirt nine times, but did not score, playing against sides like the Soviet Union and Malaysia.
His last cap came in 1992. Nine years and four other clubs, he would end his career at Crewe. And his old gaffer Dario Gradi was still in the dugout at Gresty Road.
The blood cancer survivor was awarded an MBE in 2021, for his fundraising for cancer charities.
And that is it for today!
Image Credits
* Image - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dean_ashton.jpg Unchanged Flickr Kevin Law CC 2.0
^Image - CC 2.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dean_Ashton.JPG Unchanged law_keven / https://www.flickr.com/photos/66164549@N00/2322046574/
&Image - CC 2.0 Helen Bromley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Murphy_(footballer,_born_1977)#/media/File:Danny_Murphy_2010.jpg Unchanged
£ Image https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rob_Jones.JPG Unchanged Jarvin CC 3.0
$ Image - CC 3.0 Unchanged https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geoff_Thomas.jpg Magnus Manske
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