Vital Crewe: Stepping Down

Today, with much regret, I am informing you that I shall be leaving Vital Crewe. I’ve had a great time as editor, since taking over last June.

I am genuinely proud of the work my team has done during this period, and I like to think we’ve brought more people to this site than before, and helped to encourage debate.

Interviewing Crewe legends such as Steve Phillips, Matt Tootle, Adam Dugdale and Lee Bell was an amazing experience, and I do hope you enjoyed these articles. I thank all of the players and staff I interviewed, once again, for their generosity in complying and giving back to the fans by sharing their views.

It’s interesting to see the position Crewe are in now: two wins in a row, and we’re suddenly on the up. This season really does seem like it’s gone on for ages.

Since I started during the off season and have only been writing this season, it’d be easy for me to just make this article a season review. However, I shan’t do that: I’ll leave that to my successor.

Speaking of my successor, he/she currently does not exist. We are looking for a passionate Crewe Alex fan to take this site forward, and we would be most grateful if you could tweet @VitalCrewe if interested, or email crewe@vitalfootball.co.uk if you don’t have Twitter.

This club has had some great times, and some pretty awful ones too – none worse than the allegations which have recently come to the fore.

I’m not sure how much more I can articulate my disappointment at this, but all I can say for now, is that I hope justice is served, and that the club continue to comply and stamp out any wrongdoings. It’s scary that such vile people have been affiliated with this club. This culture needs to be eradicated from football.

Young players coming through the academy have been the life and soul of Crewe Alexandra for many years, and I do hope this continues unaffected by what’s happened. While the model we have in place has shown it’s flaws, we’ve reaped the rewards – even recently with Ashley Westwood’s move to Burnley raking in serious cash for the club. I hope that the model can be maintained for the most part. We’ll have to be pragmatic about the way decisions are made, and funds are used, but it would be tragic to lose a huge tradition which has served Crewe well.

That’s probably enough from me. I’d like to thank you for your readership and hope that this site can continue to get all the Alex fans talking again.