David Artell says Lowe's head and heart was at Gigg Lane.

David Artell has revealed that he couldn’t stand in Ryan Lowe’s way when his former club Bury asked him to return as a player/coach. Lowe has agreed to leave Crewe Alexandra by mutual consent to join Chris Brass' backroom staff at Gigg Lane and Artell admits that he is disappointed to lose his leading scorer in the transfer window.

David told the club’s official web-site: “Ryan asked to leave and it was disappointing but he sees it as a passage into a second career and we understood that. If he was younger then it would have been very different but I think it was obvious that his head and his heart was up the road at Gigg Lane.

“I want players here who are prepared to run through brick walls for the club. Now I am not saying Ryan wouldn’t have done that because he is professional and knows the score but I cannot be standing in people’s way if they are not 100% up for the fight. I just can’t.

“It is my job to do what is best for this Football Club and Ryan knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. I’ve gone out and got a striker in Jordan (Bowery) who I think will compliment Chris (Dagnall). It is a blow to lose our leading scorer but we have to move on and move on quickly.

“Once it was made clear to me that Ryan wanted to be elsewhere then it was an easy decision to make. I wouldn’t rubber stamp things until we had a replacement and I think the partnership showed some positive signs at the weekend.”