David Artell has told the club’s official website that if he is to operate with a smaller squad this coming season then fulfilling Under-23 fixtures in the Professional Development League could be the biggest challenge.

Artell operates with a number of youngsters in his first-team squad and he will have to juggle the fixtures and availability accordingly to fulfil the Under-23 games. This could lead to more senior players being involved at Under-23 level and the Under-18s playing up an age group.

The Crewe Alexandra boss told crewealex.net: “In terms of squad numbers the biggest impact would be on U23s football.

“Last year we were fine because we had enough numbers to play two seasons worth of football with one squad.

“We might have to rely on some second year U18s playing in the U23s. We might have to hope we don’t get as many injuries, and we might have to rely on the lads not in the first team squad playing more games at that level.

"Michael Raynes and Alex Nicholls played the odd game last term, Shaun Miller played the odd game, and the lads might have to play more and understand the reasons why.

"They are paid to play football, I'm not worried. It's not ideal but, hypothetically, it could be necessary.”