After a single season in the Football League Second Division the club gained promotion back to Division One at the end of the 2002/03 season, having ended in second place (the first time Crewe achieved promotion from the runner-up position).

Although managing to retain their position in the second tier of English football in the 2003/04 season, at the beginning of the 2004/05 season they were rated one of the most likely teams to be relegated. 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 a record £3 million in the January 2005 transfer window, Crewe did not win any more matches until the final match of the season, when they defeated Coventry City 2-1 and narrowly escaped demotion on goal difference, Crewe having a GD of -20 and Gillingham -21.

The following season they were not so fortunate. Despite a great run towards the end of the season, they were demoted to League one at the end of the 2005-06 season.

Crewe were named the 'Most Admired Club' in the 2006 Football League Awards, powered by The League Paper and FourFourTwo Magazine.[1]

Prior to their 3-0 home defeat to Bradford, the club learnt that their previous chairman, Norman Rowlinson, had died of cancer at the age of 83. The club then held a minute's silence for Rowlinson at their next home match, against Huddersfield Town.