What Reece Hutchinson will bring to Crewe Alex

No offence to Phil Croker, who the Alex signed last Thursday, but I'm not going to do a deep dive on him. No, I'm going to focus on senior summer signings only. And thankfully, we have a 2nd one to discuss, as left back Reece Hutchinson has been signed from Sligo Rovers. So, with anyout any further delays, let's discuss him in the usual pros and cons format:

Pros

At 25, Hutchinson is a good age. He's not some raw 20 year old with no senior appearances to his name. Nor is he someone in their early 30s who's peak years might well be behind them. He's nicely slotted in the middle ground and it suggests that with a bit of coaching and a run of games, he still has improvements to come.

He has a number of games at various levels of football under his belt, from 50 appearances in League One with Burton and Cheltenham to around 70 with Sligo Rovers in the League of Ireland. He's not afraid to step outside his comfort zone and move to another county to find his feet and play games either, which hopefully says he has a solid head on his shoulders.

His stats suggest he's also been one of Sligo's top performers this season, in what has been a tough campaign where they find themselves 2nd from bottom and well adrift of safety. He is, touch wood, a durable player as well. He started all 36 of Sligo's games in their 2024 season and hasn't missed a game in 2025 either, starting 22 of 22 games. And across those 58 games, he has 5 goals and 3 assists. Nothing spectacular, but solid enough for a full back.

In a strange quirk, he like Josh March will be playing for the biggest club of his career arguably, after turning out for Cheltenham and Burton as well. Hopefully he will come suitably motivated and kick on back in England after spells with those 2 clubs didn't work out. He at the very worst will provide excellent competition to Charlie Finney for the left back spot in the team.

Cons

The spells at Burton and Cheltenham are a concern. He struggled to make an impact at both clubs, but you would hope that was more of an issue with youth. The biggest worry is how many games the Alex will be able to get out of him in 25-26. His season with Sligo started back in February and he's already made 22 starts with them to date. He's not coming off a summer break like the rest of the squad.

That for me suggests that he won't be able to play week in, week out from August through till May, because doing so would mean he'll have been playing non-stop for 15 months, something even the most fit of players likely can't do to a high level. They will have to manage his minutes and unfortunately, no matter how good he might be, he probably won't start more than 20-30 times in 25-26.

Looking at his stats, which I'm not fully going to hold against him, there do seem to be some areas his game could improve on. His crossing accuracy, times dispossessed and duels won could all use work. He's not the finished article by any means.

And you do have to question the quality of the League of Ireland. I've no doubt it has improved over the years, but where does the bottom of the league rank compared to L2. Hopefully it's similar, but we'll know soon enough I suppose.

Overall Conclusion

This looks to be a rock solid addition. The downside's about how many games he's played since February, which will limit his availability, are offset by the knowledge that he looks to be a fit and durable player.

He's adding what looks to be a decent amount of experience and quality at a position of need. He will compete with Charlie Finney for the LB spot and hopefully they drive each other to some high standards. Hopefully this is the next step in his slow but steady career progression. The left side of their defence looks sorted. Let's see who comes in next and in what position.