Combative central defender who helped the club to JPT success and safety

Mark Ellis, 25, rarely missed a match or training session during his two seasons with the club. The Plymouth-born defender made 92 appearances for Crewe Alexandra, scoring seven goals and helped the club lift the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy for the first time in their history in 2013. The competitive centre-half realised his ambition of winning at Wembley after previously missing out with his former club Torquay United.

The former Bolton trainee joined Crewe Alexandra in the summer of our promotion into League One and he quickly established himself as a favourite with the supporters for his never-say-die-attitude and courage in both boxes.

Ellis was constantly battling it out for a first-team place with the likes of Harry Davis, Adam Dugdale and youngster George Ray. He began the season out of the side, due to the form and emergence of Ray in pre-season but would end the season giving a man-of-the-match performance against Preston to help us safeguard our League One safety.

Always reliable and dependable on and off the field, Mark was always a true professional and we can only thank him for his service over the last two seasons.