Steve says players will have time with their families after great year

The Crewe Alexandra players will be granted Christmas Day Off as he tries to get the best out of this squad. Last year, the players trained and ended up producing one of their worse performances of the season, with a 3-0 defeat at Bradford City.

Steve, who is preparing his team for a Boxing Day clash at Tranmere and then a trip to Oldham a few days later says his team may benefit from a day with spent with their family.

Steve told the club’s official web-site: “The players have trained Christmas Eve but we will be giving them Christmas Day off. From my point of view as a player I liked to do something before a game but last year they trained and we lost 3-0 at Bradford.

“So we don’t know. This year, we will give them the day off. They will spend some time with their families and I know they will be professional and not eat too much in preparation for Boxing Day.”