Billy: You could play at half-pace

Billy Jones (the original) has, rather predictably, spoken to the Lancashire press about how poor Crewe's training is.

The 20 year old had spent 9 years at the club, breaking into the first team at 16 years old. Despite Crewe being the club who gave him the chance of second tier professional football at such a young age, Billy has decided not to put in a good word for the Alex after moving to Preston North End this summer.

He told the Lancashire Evening Post that Preston is 'much more professional' and that at Crewe you could 'get away with playing half-pace'. Billy also said that leaving the club 'wasn't a big wrench'.

Billy left in murky circumstances this summer after rejecting a new contract back in October, but many gossip columns suggest that he had decided not to re-sign months prior to that - and that it wasn't only him making the final decision for his career.

Billy letting his contract run out annoyed many fans. Those who had seen the likes of Seth Johnson, Dean Ashton and Danny Murphy go for millions in the middle of their contracts felt that Billy had let them and the club's academy down. It was highlighted further when Luke Varney signed a new 2 year contract months prior to his £2.5million transfer to Charlton.

Because Billy is under 24 Crewe do get compensation, but it will be minimal compared to the £2million the club felt they could have got had Billy signed a new contract. A tribunal is set for the 24th August with a fee of around £600k-700k being likely for a young player who's captained England up to the Under 20's.

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