David Artell pleased that the club has a clean bill of health in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak

Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell has revealed that there have been no reports of any of his players or staff showing any signs of illness in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The club took the decision to officially shut down all departments at the end of last week and the first team players and Academy youngsters are now working on fitness and technical work at home.

Artell made sure that every player was handed a match ball before they left for the period of isolation, so they can work on their skills and touch.

The Crewe Alex boss told the club’s official website: “Everyone is okay. I’ve had no reports of any the players or staff feeling unwell and that is the main thing. That was our number one priority.

“When the players were in for training last week, I could sense that there was a feeling of ‘should we really be in’ so we took the decision to close. You could just feel that with everything going on in the world that it had moved on and people were beginning to feel more uncomfortable. That was fine and we took the decision before the government basically locked down the country.

“Most of us our under 40, 45 here and are not deemed as high risk or vulnerable but we have families like everyone else and some of the younger lads may still be living at home and all that. Younger people are getting ill now and we don’t want anyone getting ill because we want to stop the spread as quickly as possible.

“We also have older staff and they are more vulnerable and their health and safety was paramount in our thinking when we met with the club doctor.”