David Artell admits Crewe Alexandra have 'moved on' from Michael Nottingham after Blackpool extended the defender's contract

Crewe had previously been hopeful of signing the defender on a permanent deal after Nottingham enjoyed a loan spell at Gresty Road last season.

The 31-year-old made 12 appearances for Artell's side having joined Crewe during the January transfer window due to a lack of game time at Bloomfield Road.

The former Salford City man helped his new club climb into the automatic promotion places in League Two prior to the campaign being suspended due to the coronavirus.

Crewe's automatic promotion was recently confirmed when EFL clubs voted to resolve league placings by an unweighted points-per-game method.

But Crewe's plans to sign Nottingham on a permanent deal were scuppered when head coach Neil Critchley decided to trigger the option to extend his contract by a further 12 months.

Blackpool fans speculated whether the club had taken the option to ensure they would receive a fee for Nottingham's services, but Artell appears to have ruled out any move.

“Michael was in a no-lose situation," the Crewe boss said.

"Blackpool had an option on him, which he told us about when he came here.

“So, we always knew that the initial decision would be out of our hands and out of Michael's hands.

"Michael didn’t think he would get the extension because he hasn’t been playing there and his money would go up significantly, but Critch has decided to do that, so that is brilliant news for Michael and we wish all him the best.

“Yeah, we miss out but we move on. We were without him for a lot of games last year and I think we had him for about nine games, so he is not irreplaceable.

“We will need someone in that position but I am not overly worried.”

Speaking to The Gazette during lockdown, prior to signing a new deal, Nottingham revealed he had held positive discussions with Critchley.

He said: “He (Critchley) said he had watched me play at Crewe a few times and he’s been very impressed with what I’ve done so far.

“He just wanted to know where I’m at in terms of next season because he knows I’m out of contract at the end of the season.

“He just wanted to know where my head was at in terms of what I want, but the season’s not even done yet so none of us know what’s going to happen yet.”