It’s been a curious start to the League Two season.
Salford are top by early October after losing their first three games, Bristol Rovers are fifth with four defeats in nine, and Tranmere Rovers are 12th having only lost twice.
Elsewhere, Rochdale endured what felt like a sense of crisis in the first month of the season. But they signed Aden Flint and are now a point off the play-offs as one of the division’s form teams.
The league is wide open, with just six points separating first from 19th. We’re still at a stage where a couple of wins, or defeats, and everything changes. Only there seems to be even more chaos and unpredictability this year.
The best example of this are Crewe Alexandra, who find themselves in the top three, despite having only won three of their first nine games.
Replacing Max Sanders
Lee Bell’s side are third on the basis of being unbeaten, with six draws alongside their three wins. And they’ve played one game more than York City and Walsall, who are a point worse off.
Ironically, the Alex will feel there’s more to come from them in terms of creativity this season.
The have a middling output, ranking 12th in League Two for their 80 chances created as a team. With Joe White, Jack Lankester, Joel Tabiner, Josh March, Jordan Gibson and Owen Lunt in their squad, they’ll feel capable of improving that area of their game.
Crewe’s recent 3-1 win over Bristol Rovers was a major step forward in that regard. The Railwaymen might previously have been held back by the absence of Max Sanders — who left for Notts County in the summer — and his role of sitting deep and shielding the defence.
Matus Holicek and White, who have been starting in midfield this season, both do their best work pushing forward and would see themselves as No.8s rather than No.6s.
When you have two players who are of that mindset, the unpredictability of having both capable of flying forward to support attacks is traded off against the uncertainty from both of them, without the insurance factor, about whether they can go on.
As such, there may be an element of other attacking players being wary and the attacks not quite coming together with the ideal fluidity or verve.
They put that right at the weekend, however, with a really aggressive, pack mentality that seemed to stun Bristol Rovers.
Defensive solidity
Throughout the start of the season, Crewe’s defence has been rock solid. Crewe needed to take steps to evolve personnel, after a minor drop-off from veteran Mickey Demetriou last season, and a feeling that he might not be able to handle the volume of games required as a regular starter this year.
Bell, and technical director Josh Kennard deserve credit for navigating that dilemma around such an important figure. They also brought Luke Offord back to Gresty Road, as well as signing Josh Stephenson on loan from Brentford.
Stephenson has had an inspired start to his loan spell in Cheshire. He earned rave reviews for his contributions from locals, and having made the third-most interceptions in League Two with 19. The intelligent defender looks set for a big future in west London.
With solid right-back Lewis Billington staying on — to the surprise of some after the 22-year-old’s excellent displays last year in support of Tommi O’Reilly — Crewe’s chances are significantly enhanced.
With Bell at the helm, they’re not going too far astray. Since he began his first full season in charge in 2023/24, Crewe have spent over three years in and around the promotion or play-off shake-up. The only exception was a couple of months at the back end of 2024/25 when injuries bit.
Keeping fit
And therein lies the key. Crewe have sustained challenges across Bell’s tenure with ongoing injury crises. It’s been down to some combination of recruitment prioritising ability over natural fitness when both is hard to find, sports science limitations which may come again down to budget, and rotten luck.
If some of that luck can turn, Crewe have the talent – on the pitch, in the dugout and on recruitment – to go from being perennial play-off hopefuls to serious promotion contenders.
Most importantly of all, however, is recognising the scale of their overachievement. Crewe carry a name that still rings with familiarity in English football. And so it’s hard for neutrals to see them as underdogs at this level.
Yet budget wise, what they’ve had to work with as a self-funded club in the modern era is comparable with the Accrington Stanleys and Newport Countys of this world. And if Bell had one of those two in the top three it would be regarded as a sensational achievement.
Because it’s Crewe, the optics are different. Perhaps, partially rightly, because their academy model, in which a large proportion of the resources go away from the first-team playing budget and into the youth setup, does allow them a level of homegrown talent for which they’d otherwise be priced out of the market.
Nonetheless, it still goes under the radar the scale of their overachievement, both internally and externally. And if they can last the course this time around, it would be a tremendous accomplishment.