Football Season Review

Crewe are coming from the second consecutive season in which they managed to escape relegation by the skin of their teeth, as they finished the campaign one place and two points above the drop zone. Despite managing to help his men escape the drop only narrowly, Steve Davis deserves a lot of praise for the manner in which he managed to turn his side's fortunes around, as Crewe looked out of their depth early in the campaign and looked all but certain to go down after collecting only four points from their opening eleven league fixtures. However, their boss played the loan market just right and managed to bring in several signings that managed to turn his side's fortunes around, with Jamie Ness and Nicky Ajose in particular being two men that helped the Alex climb up the league table. The best spell of their season came between late December and late February, as they won seven out of ten games that they played during this period and even looked capable of posting an unlikely play-off challenge. However, things once again turned sour after that, with Ajose's dip in form and an injury suffered by keeper Ben Garratt playing a huge role in Crewe's struggles in late February and early March. The Alex eventually entered the final month of the season knowing that they would need a strong finish in order to stay up, and they rose to the occasion, having recorded only one defeat in seven games that they played between the 39th and 45th round. They entered their final game versus Bradford knowing that they will stay up if they manage to beat the Bantams, who had nothing to play for. They ended up losing the game, but remained a League One club due to results elsewhere. Davis will just be happy that the season is finally over, and will want to use the summer to turn Crewe into a side that will not flirt with relegation again.

Player of the Season: Ben Garratt