David Artell has told the club’s official website that he will continue to push on with his planning for next season and will inform certain players about their futures sooner rather than later.

 The Alex boss remains optimistic of the 2019/20 season being concluded this summer but he also has to deal with the complexity of contracts expiring in June. Players have severance pay until the end of July unless they sign for a new club.

The club’s management staff will also have to decide on the future of the second year scholars and who they wish to offer professional contracts to going forward.

David told crewealex.net: “I will be speaking to a number of players and provide some clarity on their future. We have made our decision on a number of them now and we will have to carry out the courage of our convictions.

“I know there are 9 games left to conclude the season but we have to plan accordingly. Would that be enough time for us to change our minds on some? Maybe so but we have to trust our decision making.

“The situation we are in is ever changing but we have to try and stay on top of what we want to do going forward.

He added: “It has been an on-going process and the staff had a lot of discussions about what we want to do before the lockdown. Nothing has really changed since those meetings and all we can do is our best in a bad situation.”