Norman Rowlinson

Norman Rowlinson (1923 – 18 August 2006) was a football chairman who chaired Crewe Alexandra.

He joined Crewe as a director in 1962, and became chairman in 1964. He chaired the club to promotion from the Fourth Division on two occasions during the 1960s, although Crewe were unable to establish themselves at the higher level.

Rowlinson appointed Tony Waddington as manager in 1978. Waddington had taken close neighbours Stoke City to League Cup glory in 1972 and to the brink of the Football League title in 1975, but failed to achieve promotion in 1981 despite being popular with fans. When Rowlinson sacked Waddington in 1981, his decision proved very unpopular with the majority of Crewe supporters.

In June 1983, Rowlinson appointed 41-year-old Italian Dario Gradi as manager. Gradi remained as manager for 24 years, and is still with the club as Technical Director.

Crewe's fortunes slowly improved throughout the 1980s, as they had regularly struggled to save their Football League status for a decade or so prior to Gradi's appointment. In 1989 they achieved promotion to the Third Division by finishing third in the Fourth Division, ending 25 years of bottom division football. They remained in the Third Division for two years before being relegated again, and then suffered two successive playoff failures.

In 1994, Crewe won the new Division Three playoff final to record the first Wembley triumph of their history. They endured playoff failures in Division Two over the next two seasons before triumph in 1997 took them into the second tier of the English league for the first time ever. They had also completed a record of sixth successive playoff appearances.

Crewe remained in Division One for five years, peaking at 12th place in their first season, before being relegated in 2002. Promotion was achieved at the first attempt as runners-up in 2003 - the first time that Crewe had finished in the top two of any Football League division.

Rowlinson had retired as chairman in 1998 when he handed over the reins to John Bowler, although he remained at the club as President.

Rowlinson, who lived near Northwich, died of cancer in August 2006 at the age of 83. He had been on the club's board for 44 years (34 of them as chairman).

His son Jimmy inherited his 24.28% stake in the club.