DAVE Artell has welcomed the scheduled return of fans to Gresty Road after the lockdown ends.

Cheshire East was placed under tier two restrictions by the government which means up to 2,000 supporters can attend sporting events.

The visit of Northampton on Saturday, December 12 will be the first time in more than nine months that Alex fans will have watched their club in competitive action.

While the readmission is unlikely to solve the financial pressures on Crewe and other lower league clubs, Artell says it is a step in the right direction after months of gloom for the faithful.

But the Crewe boss stresses fans will need to stick strictly to Covid-19 rules.

"We couldn't imagine what the first few games of the season would be without fans. The emotion wasn't there and it was a sterile environment," admitted Artell.

"Some teams and some players are helped by fans, some aren't. But it's a positive step and just having them in rather than cardboard cut-outs will be a huge step forward.

"But the fans will have to adhere to the rules and if they don't they don't deserve to be in football stadia. Hopefully, in two weeks' time people stick to the rules and give themselves plenty of time [to get in].

Crewe Vice-Chairman Charles Grant has admitted fan readmission under the current rules for tier two won't generate extra cash.

Season-ticket holders were to be offered priority for seats for proposed pilot games earlier in the season and the club has already received that revenue from them. While there will be extra costs involved rehiring stewards and stadia staff to oversee the matchday operation.

But Artell stressed: "It's [the introduction of the new measures] a real positive step not just for football but for life in general. It impacts on everyone, but we still have got to very careful. We have got to socially distance, wash our hands and all of that, but we have been doing that for months now."

Non-season ticket holders have been forking out for i-Follow streams to watch Crewe games this season, but there will be no cost to follow tomorrow's FA Cup second round tie at Cheltenham, which is being streamed live on the BBC's i-Player here.

After missing out on promotion in the League Two play-offs in the summer Cheltenham have continued to impress under Michael Duff's management and Artell warned: "They were a very good side last year and we had two very close games.

"They've won 13 of their 20 games this season and they've got a good young manager who has done ever so well. We have got to put a spoke in their wheel."

Crewe will assess the fitness of Mikael Mandron with the striker having missed Crewe's last two games with a hamstring problem, as well as defender Omar Beckles, who did not feature in Tuesday night's defeat (0-1) at Accrington.

Chris Porter has shown no ill effects after making his first start of the season in the Wham Stadium defeat.