David Artell
David Artell was in charge of Crewe for 274 games, winning exactly 100 of them

David Artell and the rest of the team at Crewe were parted company after they were demoted from League One.

Their 15th defeat in 16 matches was broken by a 2-1 away win at Cheltenham on 26 February.

Alex Morris is the interim first-team manager with under-23s boss Lee Bell working alongside him.

Morris had to leave football because of injuries and never played a first-team game, but he has worked his way through the ranks at the Alex on the coaching side.

He was promoted to assistant boss in a backroom shuffle in March.

Following the dismissal of Steve Davis in January of last year, Artell was appointed as Gibraltar's new Ambassador and agreed a rolling contract for 12 months.

He was a member of the side that won promotion from League Two in 2012 and was managed by Davis.

After the season was shortened by the Covid epidemic, Artell matched his predecessor by guiding them to promotion on average points per game in 2020.

He guided them to a safe mid-table finish in League One last season, but they have never been higher in the table than 21st and have been at the bottom since February.

Speaking following Saturday's game, an emotional Artell told the radio station that it had been a long time in the making.

The 41-year-old said: "I think we have had six 17 and 18 year olds make their debuts this season and play a good number of games."

The young kids have done well, but we haven't been good enough.

'Artell's position became untenable' - Analysis

Graham has been a reporter on the Alex since 1988.

It takes a lot of soul-searching before a manager can be replaced.

The Alex board of directors have moved quickly to make a change after five years and 91 days of David Artell as boss.

It has been a bad run of results, with 15 defeats in the last 16 games, the most in the EFL, eight on the spin and six wins from 42 League One games.

He was the eighth longest-serving manager in English league football but that left him in a precarious position and his position had become unsustainable.