Artell states he has learnt lesson from last pre-season when it comes to squad numbers.
David Artell has stressed that he doesn’t want to be ‘caught cold’ this summer. The Alex boss believes he has learned a harsh lesson after losing George Ray, James Jones and for a short period Jordan Bowery through injury last pre-season. Crewe had to cope without captain Ray and midfielder Jones for much of the campaign.
Ray returned from his back injury to play the last dozen games of the season and his stability at the hart of the defence allowed Crewe Alexandra to move away from the bottom places.
Jones, a former Scotland Under-21 International only returned for six games, but he did score a crucial opening goal in a 4-3 win at Mansfield Town.
Artell had to move quickly in the summer to fill the void and loaned in youngsters Sam Stubbs (Wigan) and Conor Grant (Everton) to fill the void.
He admits: “I don’t want to be caught cold like we were last summer when we were without George and James and Jordan didn’t have a full pre-season either because he needed a hernia operation.
“I have learned from that mistake and have become more street-wise and smarter with it. Of course, you can’t look into a crystal ball and envisage what might happen, but you have to be prepared for every eventuality if you can.
“I would like to get some business done to boost the squad even more. I am happy with what we have done so far and if I can get that work done early on then we would be in decent shape. I would be happy to start the season with that but we are still looking for a couple and they could be permanent ones or loan signings.”