Crewe Alexandra boss honestly believes that the EFL Trophy competition would have struggled to have survived if there wasn’t the financial rewards on offer in the earlier group stage.

Crewe take on Newcastle United Under-21s tomorrow night at the Alexandra Stadium hoping to add to the three points already achieved away at Bolton in our opening group game.

Artell believes that the rewards on offer in Checkatrade Trophy has kept it alive, with the Premier League elite submitting teams to take part in the competition also.

Ahead of the visit of Newcastle’s youngsters, Artell told crewealex.net: “I honestly think that the competition has been kept alive with the money on offer in the early rounds. If it hadn’t had been there I think it would have been dismissed a bit by managers, certainly until the later rounds.

“I think that the rewards on offer have made most managers take it seriously. For me, it is another game and another chance for our players, who may not been in the team at the minute, to really impress.

“You only get better by the number of games you play, so I am all for it.

He added: “Of course, the ultimate prize is to play at Wembley, but that is a long way off. We have to win the games to get there and that is the target but firstly it is Newcastle. They beat us last time we played them and it will be a tough game against some talented young players, who dream of playing in the Premier League for a top club.”