Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell has praised the club’s board of directors for positioning us financially so that we can resist offers for our players. Artell says that the club’s stable financial position meant that Crewe could refute first offers made for full-backs, Perry Ng and Harry Pickering during the January transfer window.

Both players eventually moved on (with Pickering returning on loan) only after Crewe received what they believe was a fair valuation for their former Academy players.

Artell told the club’s official website: “You have to praise the board for making that the two transfers during this window were right. It has to be right for all parties and they got into a position financially where we could say ‘no’.

“That perhaps wasn’t the case a few years ago. We would have probably have accepted the initial offers but now we don’t have to.

“We can do that and we did. It put us into a position where we got more value for our players for the investment we made over many years.

“It has got to be right for the Football Club and although we don’t want to stand in the way of any of our players if the right deal and right club comes along, but it has to be right.

“We are only custodians of the club. There will be people after me, after the board and the staff and we want to leave it in good hands when those days eventually come. We want it to be even better and even more stable than it is now.

He added: “With the two lads moving on it has been a good deal all round, so everyone is happy.”