MANAGER Steve Davis admits Crewe Alexandra need a complete overhaul after they avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth.

The Alex failed to get the point they needed against Bradford, losing 1-0, and only late goals for Gillingham and Coventry proved their salvation.

So after a second successive ‘Great Escape’, the inquest begins into how Davis can turn their fortunes around.

A less turbulent pre-season would be a perfect start.

And the boss is clear that recruitment is at the top of his agenda.

“Our aim has to be to do better and that means in all areas of the club,” he said.

“We have to try and bring better players into the club and if we can do that, it will improve the team throughout.

“We will also look to improve our own and enhance the mentality of our younger players.

“We don’t want them to think that staying in this league is enough, we want to do better.

“I want the core of our team to be better and that is what we are preparing to do.

“We will be having a number of meeting with the board to try and implement some of those changes.”

Captain Matt Tootle and Ryan Colclough are expected to be offered new deals with Crewe’s retained list set to be released imminently.

Rumours suggest out-of-contract Anthony Grant will opt to move on while the likes of Vadaine Oliver and Paul Rachubka are let go.

Along with a striker and a midfielder, Davis wants back up for Ben Garratt who was named Player of the Year and Player’s Player of the Year.

James Jones took the Breakthrough Player award while Greg Leigh claimed Goal of the Season for his stunner against Scunthorpe.

Davis has also vowed to take full responsibility for Crewe’s fitness after blowing 23 points from winning positions.

“When I came in my opinion was that the players weren’t fit enough so I took greater control,” he continued.

“From that we saw performances so it will be solely my responsibility again.

“Maybe I’ve lost a bit by putting trust in others so it’s up to me to make sure it’s right because they have to be at their peak to pick up results.

“Too many times this season I felt we had to make substitutions too early in the game.

“We need to see how we can recover quicker and do better.

“It’s also about how they eat and drink - not just running them.

“It’s been a massive turnaround because not many gave us a chance in October.

“But we don’t want it to be like this next season and putting our fans through it, we’re aiming to do better.”