Crewe travelled to MK Dons for a vital League Two promotion game last Saturday but one man central to the club’s resurgence in the past two years, the head of recruitment, Josh Kennard, was not present. Instead, he travelled 70 miles further, to watch a National League South game between Chelmsford and Bath, a vital scouting trip he hopes could yield results just as productive as a win on the pitch.
Crewe lost at MK Dons, but that they are even in the promotion picture in an ultra-competitive season alongside the big budgets of Wrexham, Stockport and Mansfield owes a lot to Kennard’s meticulous and data-assisted philosophy. The Alex operate with one of the smallest wage bills in the division and the squad consists almost entirely of academy products and signings made by Kennard. Not one cost a fee.
