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Crewe Alexandra have sacked Steve Davis after more than five years as manager and replaced him with David Artell.

Davis, 51, was the fourth longest-serving boss in the top four divisions of English football, having been appointed in November 2011.

His departure follows Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Mansfield in League Two.

Former Crewe club captain and Gibraltar international Artell, 36, has been playing as a centre-back for Northern Premier League Droylsden this season.

Having been relegated last season, the Alex's form has been poor this term and they are 18th in the table after taking only two points from their last seven games.

The change of management was confirmed on the Crewe website.

"The club would like to thank Steve for his service and endeavour as both manager and previously in his role as assistant manager," a statement said.

"The club's former promotion-winning captain David Artell has been appointed manager and further details will be announced in due course."

Davis spent four seasons as a player at Crewe during his career before moving on to Burnley, Barnsley and Oxford.

He returned to Gresty Road as assistant to Gudjon Thordarson in 2009 and two years later succeeded Dario Gradi as manager.

Artell was a member of the team as they won promotion at the end of that season, beating Cheltenham in the play-off final at Wembley.

But he was released a few days later and moved on to Port Vale and Northampton before dropping into non-league football.

He won seven international caps for Gibraltar in 2014-15, playing in the qualifiers for Euro 2016, having qualified to play for them through his father.