Crewe Alex Offseason Update - June 17th

So, I think it's time for an offseason Crewe Alex update. It's been just over 2weeks since I posted my last article, which discussed how I felt the Alex were in a better place than they were 12 months ago. A lot of that still stands, but as pre-season draws ever closer, the need for things to start moving at Gresty Road will only increase over the coming days. Still, whilst we wait for news to drop, here is a recap of what has transpired so far in June.

All Quiet on the Reaseheath Front

It's been a very quiet 3 weeks for the Alex. They quickly released their retained list, which I discussed here. We also saw prompt decisions from out of contract duo Elliott Nevitt and Luke Offord, who opted to sign for fellow L2 sides Gillingham and MK Dons respectively. I'll discuss them more shortly. Chris Long re-signed for another year, which I'll also discuss. And finally Dave Richards moved to Dundee United, likely on a free transfer.

But aside from that, it's been almost radio silence from the club. No news on whether Rio Adebisi or Courtney Baker-Richardson will leave or stay and when they are likely to reach those decisions. No news on Lucas Sant and Nathan Robinson and their signing of their first professional contracts. And as we'll discuss, no news on potential incomings either.

This is not unusual. It's the dead point of the off season, where players and management go on holiday. The return to pre-season is still 2-3 weeks away and their first friendly for now isn't until July 13th. Things will likely ramp up in the 2nd half of the month as pre-season approaches and Bell will likely want to get some new players in place before the squad returns and training begins.

Season Ticket Sales

A small snippet of news was the club disclosing that sales during the early bird window were up 15% from the previous year. No numbers were released on this, but if the figures are true and we're potentially looking at season ticket numbers rising, that's undoubtedly positive news for the club. It shows that winning football helps grow fanbases and that's something I'd like to see them continue into next season.

Friendlies

The club announced their first 5 friendlies, with 2 more set to be added as well. There have been some notable differences this summer. It looks unlikely that they'll play a double header or play on back to back days, as they've had often in years gone by.

Also gone for the 2nd year in a row is the annual pre-season kick off against Nantwich Town. I suspect that's due to the Dabbers having an artificial pitch, which the Alex probably don't want to play on. It's a massive shame that this fixture looks to be consigned to Cheshire Senior Cup fixtures only. It used to generate a good crowd and was a nice way for the Alex to begin their summer preparations, plus it generated money for the Dabbers.

But I'd imagine they make far more money both in terms of savings from not having to refurbish a grass pitch every summer, plus from not losing money on postponements and of course, the ability to rent the pitch out to local sports groups for year round use.

On the fixtures the Alex do have, it's a mostly vanilla fare so far. Blackpool at home, Stafford, Newcastle Town and Tamworth away is a bog standard lot. Tamworth romped to the National League North title, so they'll pose a decent test being just 1 level below the Alex now. So will Blackpool, being a top end L1 side.

The most interesting game is the visit of Stoke City to Gresty Road. That will likely draw a healthy crowd, especially if most of the Stoke first team feature as expected. Those 3 games should serve as more than adequate fixtures to help the Alex get ready for the league season, which starts on August 10th. That being said, playing a friendly in August isn't usual. Why does 24-25 kick off so late?

As mentioned, 2 more games are still be announced, but I'd imagine they'll be against lower league opposition on the road, or behind closed doors at Reaseheath. I doubt either will be that interesting. 7 games in total is a nice number of friendlies for the first team to have though. Not too few, not too many. Just right.

Outgoings

Let's look at the 3 departures of Elliott Nevitt, Luke Offord and Dave Richards.

With Nevitt, it's clear he got a competitive offer from the Alex, but whatever package the big spending Gills offered him tempted him to move to the other end of the country. Fair enough, but it's disappointing to see him stay in L2. Were there no clubs who might have taken him in L1? A Stevenage or Shrewsbury or Burton? I do think L2 is his level and we don't yet know if 23-24 was a one off for him, or whether he truly is a 15+ goal scorer. The pressure will be on for him to replicate that form. His departure does open a big hole at striker, which becomes even bigger if Courtney Baker-Richardson also leaves. That hole will be hard to fill(stop sniggering).

Luke Offord also stuck around in L2 and that decision looks terrible. Again, he chased the bigger wage packet after the Alex were willing to make him the highest paid player by a long way. Let's discuss that logic for a second. First, why destroy your wage structure for 1 player? He's a good player, but worthy of that sort of deal? Does it not open the door for Rio, Mickey and anyone else to ask for the same money? I'm almost glad he turned it down.

As for the player, it's disappointing to see him chase money and not league status at his age. Ok, MK Dons could get promoted to L1, but it's still another year of a short career playing at a level below where your talents say you should be playing. These 2 are the epitome of modern football unfortunately.

Finally, Dave Richards saw his 9 year association with the club come to an end, truthfully at least 2 years beyond when it should have been. He managed less than 100 appearances and whilst there were some high points, namely his penalty heroics at the Riverside in 2019 against Middlesbrough in the league cup, his tenure was a mostly poor one with little to show for it. Thankfully Dundee United moved on him and he'll now head to Scotland full time. He seems like a decent guy, so I'll wish him well.

As mentioned before, we are yet to hear decisions from Adebisi and Baker-Richardson. Who knows how long those 2 will keep the Alex waiting for. After them though, I think the Alex's outgoings could be done. I don't foresee anyone else making a surprise exit and that should mean there won't be any disruption late into the transfer window. Which can only be a good thing.

Chris Long

The only player to have stuck around that could have left so far is Chris Long. I'll be honest, I'm very disappointed by this. His injuries alone make this such a poor decision. Is it worth paying him his current level of salary based on 23 starts next season, if you're lucky? I've talked about his personality and why I don't like him as a person. That may be irrelevant to some, but I've long disputed the idea that just because they pull on your team's colours, they have the divine right to unconditional support.

No, every player has to earn it. And after his half a missed season and his shameful dive at Wembley, he has a long way to go to earn back my support. A long way. I really hope the club find a winger who can supplant him as their starting LW next season.

Incomings?

Which brings me onto incomings. To date there have been no rumours, no whispers, nothing. Now, given the total lack of coverage of the club from anything resembling competent unbiased media personnel, this isn't surprising anymore.

Obviously Bell and his recruitment team are working on signing players and I'm sure they are down the line with some. What is becoming clear though is that Bell likely won't have his squad in place by the time pre-season starts.

Even in the unlikely event that Adebisi and CBR stay, he needs 7 players as a minimum. The positions they need players in are GK, RCB, CM, LW, RW and ST x 2. Add a LB and another attacker if the 2 above leave. 7 players in 3-4 weeks feels highly unlikely. 9, no chance. Now, that's not an issue, 3 of their 7 summer signings from 12 months ago arrived in July or August. Doing your business in those months is fine. But the more ideal time to get deals done is before pre-season kicks off, every manager will tell you this.

Ideally I'd like to see them add starting calibre players at GK(to compete with Booth), RCB(because who else is going to start there), CM(because Thomas is injury prone and Powell might not be fit to play any friendlies) and striker(who else is there?) before pre-season gets underway. Obviously things don't always work out that way, but that would be in a perfect world.

Which also brings me onto Bell's comment that he wants 3-4 permanent additions before filling the rest out with loans. That's also fine, but he needs to prioritise quality starters at the above mentioned spots for me personally. Then he can add a LB, RW, LW and ST through the loan market. Let's hope he can get at least half of his business done in the coming weeks.

Conclusion

The first half of June has been pretty much dead when it comes to Alex related business. Let's hope the next half of the month has more to talk about. I'm not at the point where I'm nervous or concerned about the lack of signings. Most of the free agents I'd want to see them target are still on the market. It took them until June 14th to sign their first player last season and it was June 23rd before they signed their first player permanently.

And let's also remember, we focus on free agents when discussing targets. We often forget than once pre-season starts, some players become available even if they're under contract. See Jack Powell as a classic example of this. Good loanees become available when they've been evaluated by their parent clubs and they decide to let them leave for game time.

The fixtures come out in 9 days time, the first friendly just under 4 weeks away and we'll likely have plenty more things to discuss when I do another update at the end of this month. Oh and there is also the Euros to enjoy as well. David Mitchell was right, the football never ends.