Crewe Alex's 2025-26 Season Review Part 3 - What's Next?

Here we are then, the third and final part of my review of 25-26 for the Alex and a discussion as to what comes next. Part 1 looked at the bad parts of the season and Part 2 focused on the good. So, this is the final section, where I look at what comes next for the Alex as they start to turn their attention towards next season. I'm going to lay this out in terms of what I want to see the Alex do both in the next few months to hopefully build a successful side and have a successful 2026-27. So, lets get into it:

Pick a Style

What is the Alex's style? Genuinely? One minute, they are a slow, methodical team that like to build from the back and play through the lines. The next they are hoofing it long trying to get men in behind. One minute they are going through the middle, the next it's overloading in wide areas.

The problem with playing a mix of styles is that is creates confusion in your own team. If you are going long, the strikers are going to be on the shoulder of the opposition back line. But unless the midfield/full backs are pushed up really high, it's likely to get cleared by the opposition defenders right back where it came from.

If you are dropping deep to play through the lines but no option is available, meaning you have to whack it long, then you aren't going to be in a position to win the ball and retain possession high up the pitch, because whilst the attackers might be close, the midfield won't be. That's just one example.

As I've said before, I get you have to be pragmatic and mix up your approach. They can't just be an entirely tippy tappy or long ball team. But a bit more consistency in how they tackle games would help them avoid the wild swings of consistency that we saw this season I think.

Fix the Midfield

Think back to the best teams in Crewe Alex history. 96-97, 02-03, 11-12, 19-20. In all those seasons, they had fantastic midfielders. Murphy, Sorvel, Lunt, Westwood, Murphy, Wintle, Lowery. No offence to the midfielders this season, but they don't come close, Sanders apart perhaps, to holding a torch to some of those names.

The fact is, the Alex's midfield needs an overhaul. They've had players like Powell and Thomas for the last 3 seasons and is it any surprise that they struggle to impose themselves on games or control the tempo well enough? They have a decent core of young home grown players in the midfield in Owen Lunt, Luca Moore and Owen Taylor, all at the various stages of their development. What they need are 2-3 options in there to replace Powell, Thomas and Sanders, if all 3 depart of course.

They need players who have high energy, can tackle, can assist and ideally, can score a few. Put simply, fixing the midfield is their most important issue heading into the summer transfer window.

Trust the core?

The Alex have, on paper, an excellent attacking quintet of players in Josh March, Jack Lankester, Calum Agius, Joel Tabiner and Matus Holicek already signed up for next season. The question is though, can the management trust them all to stay fit, take a step in the latter 3's cases and provide the bulk of their goals and creativity? Because on paper, each of them can put up over double figures if they stay fit. If they all finished somewhere between 5-10 goals, that's anywhere from 25-50 goals worth of production when you'd only need around 60-70 goals to be a really good attacking team.

However, whilst March is slightly more proven after back to back productive seasons, Agius went through various dry patches this season and his impact on games wasn't great. Tabiner is coming off a full season out and Holicek too has had injury problems. And the fact is, for both of them, their career highs for goal contributions in a season is 6 each. Then there is Lankester, a very productive player when fit, but who isn't fit very often. Is he finally going to get over his horrendous injury luck? I hope so. Because I'll say now what I said 12 months ago. Get 30+ games out of him and the Alex make the play-offs.

That's 5 talented players, a good core to build around. In theory. If they all have good seasons, the Alex are a promotion contender once again. However, if they don't progress, spend vast parts of next season injured or regress in March's case, then the Alex will be on the outside looking in once again.

Trust Youth

Bell often referred to his squad as young in his post-match interviews and he's right, they were. But I think he should lean into that more. I think the loan market is going to be very slow this summer as PL/Championship clubs keep their youngsters around until the last minute to cover for players away at the world cup.

So, that in turn should hopefully give plenty of opportunities for the Alex's homegrown players to step up, especially in the first half of the season. Yes, it's a risk, but if Bell is serious about leaning into youth, then they need to ensure enough space is available for their youngsters to play. I want to see starting spots for Holicek, Agius, Lunt, Tabiner and Billington on a regular basis. I want to see opportunities for the likes of Moore and Dancey, should they stick around, plus any other emerging youngsters to get on the bench.

The board have signalled that even whilst they are downgrading the status of the academy, they are still want Crewe Alex to be a centre for youth development. So, lets see them lean into that even more.

Get some help for Demetriou

I am once again asking, for the 2nd straight summer, for the Alex to get some experienced help for Demetriou in central defence. The Alex's defence often crumbles without him and the fact is, he's 36 and age is starting to sap him physically. The defence isn't full of rookies. Billington and Hutchinson have made over 100 senior appearances. But neither is a leader back there. The Alex need an older experienced CB to take some of the pressure off Mickey's shoulders. They need a succession plan for the inevitable point in the future when he decides he's had enough of playing and hangs up the boots.

Come back fit and healthy

In each of the last 2 seasons, various parts of their squad were unavailable due to injury to start the season. Jack Powell and Omar Bogle were missing at the start of 24-25. This season, they went in without Bogle, Lankester, Holicek, Tracey and Tabiner. But touch wood, no player that will be here next season is suffering from a long term ailment at this stage. Every player, at this point, that is coming back next season should be fit to start pre-season.

That needs to be close to the case when they open the season in August. Avoid any injuries in the next 3 months, including pre-season. I know that is a little bit hard to predict or mitigate for, but having a close to 100% available squad when the season starts is an absolute must.

Resolve the ownership

Social media has been awash with rumours and speculation about a possible takeover. But as someone who isn't in the know, I am unaware of any of this. I don't know the veracity of the claims, who the incoming owner or owners could be, how much they are planning to invest, what impact it will have on the club in terms of management, playing budget, infrastructure etc.

The club are hard to get news out of. So I hope for everyone's sake they can announce something concrete soon. Clarity off the field will lead to clarity on it.