14 October 2023 , 01:00
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Great entertainers Crewe Alexandra are the Railwaymen who are back on track – and Courtney Baker-Richardson is following an England striker's line to the limelight.
Like Newcastle forward Callum Wilson, now adopted Geordie royalty, Baker-Richardson started his career at Coventry. And although his career has stopped at all stations, including a unique interlude last season where he aggravated a slight groin injury playing on his X-Box at home, he is becoming a poster boy for strikers who never give up.
Crewe are the country's leading scorers in all four divisions, and their 12 League games have produced 49 goals – also a market leader – with 6ft 2in Baker-Richardson proving a bundle of trouble for defenders. And Wilson's route to the top remains an inspiration for Alex's five-goal striker.
He said: “I know Callum's story – he is a friend of mine and I remember when he couldn't get a sniff at Coventry. He had to go out on loan to Kettering, but look at him now. He's playing for one of the richest clubs in Europe and he's been to a World Cup with England, and he's proof that one person's opinion doesn't define your career. If you are young, ambitious and you want to do well, you've always got a chance.
“I was released by Coventry at 18 and a lot of the players who were let go at the same time as me don't play football any more. But I didn't want to give it up, and playing for three years in non-League was the best thing that could have happened to me because it kept the fire burning. When I got my chance at Swansea, and they threw me in the deep end, I didn't drown.
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“You don't have to be the best player in the world to be a warrior on the pitch and, with me, it's never say die. People are scared to look at the lower leagues for bargains, but there are diamonds in the rough everywhere if you are prepared to look for them.
Courtney Baker-Richardson is enjoying life at Crewe Alexandra i (Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY! What's the best non-league story in football? Comment below.
“As well as Callum, players like Jamie Vardy and Andre Gray came out of non-league – but they scored goals all the way up to the Premier League. You don't always have to spend millions or look abroad. Come and watch us at Crewe – if you want to call it sexy football, that's what we play.
“Route one will get the job done for you sometimes, and sexy football is not going to beat everyone, but we are dominating possession and scoring goals. Yeah, I'm enjoying it.”
For most fans, Crewe is where you change trains on the way to Liverpool, Manchester or other northern powerhouse destinations. But it's the club where David Platt, Danny Murphy, Robbie Savage, Rob Jones and Neil Lennon all came to prominence in the 1990s, and manager Lee Bell is getting a tune out of Alex again now – even when his players fall foul of their games consoles.
Baker-Richardson missed a goalless draw at Carlisle 12 months ago while twiddling his thumbs, explaining: “I had tweaked a muscle in my groin in the previous game, and when I stretched out at home playing on the X-Box I felt a twinge. It was a pre-existing injury – I only missed one game.”
Not a four-act drama like Call Of Duty, then. And not quite in the same league as Swedish player Rami Kaib, who broke his jaw eating a carrot, or former England keeper Dave Beasant, who broke his big toe after dropping a bottle of salad cream on his foot.
Poor old Lurch. That's what you call a back-handed condiment.