David Artell has revealed that he has not named his new captain yet. The Crewe Alexandra boss has a few contenders this season with the former club captains Michael Raynes and Chris Porter also joining the club this summer.

Chris Dagnall has captained the club in the majority of the pre-season games whilst last season’s skipper George Ray recovers from his back injury. Ray was handed the armband when Artell took over from Steve Davis in January.

Artell told the club’s official web-site: “To be honest, I’ve not thought any more about it. It hasn’t something I have thought about. I know it is an honour and it means a lot to people but it didn’t matter to me if I had the armband on or not.

“I always tried to lead by example and say what I had to say when I had to say it. I want a few leaders and I want the players to take responsibility. I want them to have an opinion and express themselves. I want them to talk to the staff and get their point of views across.

“I think that is important and we encourage it here. The majority of the squad is young and in modern society the only thing they communicate with is their mobile phone. Hopefully we can change their mind-set and get them to contribute and show some leadership qualities.”