ALEX WILL MAKE SWIFT COMEBACK, INSISTS FORMER BOSS

FORMER Crewe manager Dave Artell believes his old club will gain promotion back to League One within the next three years. Artell lost his job at the end of last season when the Railwaymen were relegated. That brought to an end his five years in charge, having taken over with the club struggling in League Two, led them to automatic promotion in 2019/20 and then a 12th-placed finish in League One the following season. But the sale or loss of key players was followed by relegation and Artell’s departure in April. The 41-year-old, who is ready for a return to management, has been reflecting on his time at Crewe and their prospects in an in-depth interview with the Coaches’ Voice. In it, he says the club’s youth policy will help them out of the Football League’s basement division.

He said: “Crewe is a club that works in cycles. I expect that, within three years of me leaving, they will be back up in League One. That squad has bags of potential, and with a bit more experience there’s no reason those players can’t be playing for Crewe in League One again. “There were lots of challenges in that final year. It’s really difficult being a manager in a dressing room that is young and not always getting the rewards their performances warrant. You’ve constantly got to be developing the players to get better, driving standards up, coming at things from a different angle, keeping things exciting. You also can’t focus on results too much. You have to focus on the positives. “In much the same way, I focus on the positives from my time at Crewe.

“We achieved Crewe’s highest finish in 17 years. I became the first person to add promotion as Crewe manager to having done so as a player. I won a match with an entire team of academy graduates, made the club a lot of money in the middle of a pandemic, and worked under really strict financial restrictions. We were unable to call on the kinds of resources or staff – like a head of recruitment – that would be normal at most other clubs at that level.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity I got at Crewe. I got experience in recruitment, scouting, loan and transfer strategies, and individual coaching, all on top of being the manager.”

While looking back affectionately on his time at the club, Artell, pictured, also reflects on how they lost key players and the team that finished mid-table in League One was relegated the following season.

Harry Pickering, to Blackburn, Perry Ng and Ryan Wintle, to Cardiff, Charlie Kirk, to Charlton and Owen Dale, to Blackpool, all moved on.

Artell said the pandemic and lack of crowds had caused bigger clubs to cut back on their budgets but that began to change.

He added: “When clubs started spending again in the summer of 2021, our players attracted a lot of interest. And this was interest from big clubs that could offer big wages and big dreams. Five of our players left for Championship. “It was impossible to replace all the players we lost in one summer. We tried to bring through the next crop of youngsters, but they just weren’t ready. The following season, we came bottom of League One. That’s when I was sacked.

“There were positives. There were games when we had three teenagers starting in defence, for example. The experience we gave them is only going to help Crewe.” Crewe go into Saturday’s game at home to Colchester 16th in League Two and on a run of seven league games without a win. But they are into the second round of the FA Cup after Bassala Sambou’s stoppage-time goal gave them a 1-0 win at home to League Leyton Orient on Saturday.

The full interview with Dave Artell on his time as a player, coach and manager at Crewe is available on the Coaches’ Voice website.