Having worked with him in the Academy Artell believes he is the man to unlock Kirk's great potential.

David Artell believes that his Academy graduate Charlie Kirk will fulfil his promise sooner rather than later. Artell has previously worked with Kirk in a younger age group in the Academy and the newly appointed Crewe boss feels that he can unlock the best out of the attack-minded forward.

Kirk, 19, is beginning to show his potential and Artell is convinced that his attitude and work ethic has greatly improved over the last 12 months. Kirk has been a regular starter under Artell and he recently helped create the goal away at Doncaster with an excellent pass into Chris Dagnall.

Artell says of Kirk’s potential: “I think Charlie has come a long way in the last 18 months. He has come a long way since he was 18 and trying to force his way into the team. We all knew he had ability, he had that with the Under-9s.

“But there were question marks over his temperament and his attitude, but I think he has overcome both. He gets the ticks in the boxes for those. Now his next step is to take a goal. He has to have that belief that he is going to score. He has had some chances and not taken them but he will in time.

“If you gave him that chance against Cheltenham again, he would probably score three out three of them again on a different day because we know he has quality. He knows he has to score and create goals. That’s his job and the good thing is he is creating chances and still getting in there to try and take one himself.

David added: “Charlie is still developing but he has looked sharp and lively over the last few games and he is getting there.”