Steve Davis: Crewe Alexandra players 'should not be going on holiday'

Steve Davis has won 76 of his 239 games in charge at Crewe since taking over in November 2011

Crewe Alexandra manager Steve Davis has told his players they should not go on holiday this summer and should be working hard at the club instead.

The Alex were relegated from League One after finishing bottom of the table, 16 points adrift of safety, having won only seven of their 46 league games.

"I've told the players they shouldn't be going on holiday," Davis, 50, told BBC Radio Stoke.

"They should be in with the management grafting away to improve things."

Davis, who has been given the backing to carry on at Gresty Road by the club's board, is adamant that the squad must show commitment if they are to mount a serious challenge for promotion next term.

"For a lot of them, they should be in for the majority of the time proving themselves physically and mentally in preparation for pre-season," Davis said. "Everybody at the club has to do better, including myself."

All change at Crewe

The Alex have released 11 players, including strikers Marcus Haber and Lauri Dalla Valle and midfielder David Fox.

A contract has been offered to defender Zoumana Bakayogo and negotiations are still on-going with top scorer Brad Inman.

With 20 players contracted for next season, Davis is staying optimistic that their absence from League One will be short.

"It's a hard job," he added. "Nobody's kidding anyone. We have to stay positive though. There are one or two exciting players and we do need to get the right people coming in.

"One or two more players who are under contract may have to go out to free up some money - that's something we'll have to look at."

The other players not to have their contracts renewed by the Alex were Chris Atkinson, James Baillie, Liam O'Neill, Fraser Murdoch, Joe Kearns, Joe Howell, Toby Mullarkey and Andre Brown.