DARIO Gradi believes Crewe supporters must re-adjust their expectations to a lower standard of football, despite the club spending eight out of the last nine seasons in the Championship.

Gradi took charge of the final game of his caretaker reign at Hartlepool last Sunday before handing over the managerial reins to new boss Gudjon Thordarson.

And while he believes the appointment of the former Stoke City and Iceland national manager will trigger an upturn in Crewe's fortunes, he is doubtful whether the club can stage a return to English football's second tier in the immediate future.

Under Gradi, Crewe enjoyed two spells (1997-2002 and 2003-2006) at the higher level.

"A lot of our newer supporters think we should be in the Championship, but if you look at it closely that's not a realistic objective now. If I could get Crewe back into the top half of the Championship then I'd have taken the permanent job on and had a go myself, but I don't think that's possible," said the 67-year-old.

"The supporters have to come to terms with a changing football world.

"What we can say is that the club is healthy and we will always have good players coming through.

"We will be here for a long time as we are not in any danger of going out of business."

Gradi will miss Saturday's FA Cup third round clash at Millwall, but before he departed for a short winter break he pledged that he and his fellow directors would hand Thordarson the money to finance deals during the transfer window.

However, he stressed: "We have to find the right players as we have spent quite a lot of money this year and not all the players have yet shown they are worth their fees.

"We do need one or two men in the team, and I don't mean by age. Michael O'Connor can do some stupid things, but he believes he is up to the standard and we could do with a few more who have his sort of confidence."

CREWE'S teenage full-back Ashley Westwood has been recalled from his loan spell at UniBond Premier Nantwich Town.