Crewe Alexandra midfielder Joel Tabiner says he is feeling fit and confident over his return to first-team football after missing the whole of last season because of a knee injury.
The 22-year-old has not played since suffering ligament damage in a pre-season friendly in July last year and has been on a near year-long rehabilitation programme to be ready for the start of the new campaign.
Tabiner, who made his debut for the Alex as a 17-year-old in November 2001, last played for the first team in April 2025 in a 2-0 defeat by Tranmere Rovers.
“It was really frustrating,” he told BBC Radio Stoke. “I’ve done all the work now, so I’ve just got to look forward. I know I’ve put all the work in, so I’m confident coming back.
“I’m quite strong-minded, so as soon as I got injured, I sort of looked at the positives instead of the negatives and just from day one started working on it straight away.”
Tabiner, who has made 112 appearances for the Railwaymen, added because he is “pretty much in line with where I should be”, he will be ready to take a full part when the pre-season schedule starts next month.
“I sort of ruled the whole season out just to make sure that I did everything properly, so I should be on track.
“I’ve just been doing the gym every day, pretty much, so I can’t wait to get back really; I’ve been waiting for it all year.”
After watching the side finish 11 points adrift of the top seven in League Two last season after their play-off challenge faded late on, Tabiner said the aim to win promotion will not be any different in 2026-27.
“I feel like since we’ve been in League Two, the expectation is promotion, and I think obviously it’ll be a different group this year, but every group I’ve been in the changing room with wants to get promoted and expects us to get promoted,” he said.
“We know that with the talent we’ve already got, and we’ll probably be bringing in, we should be competing up there.
“Last season, I didn’t think we were far [off] at all; I think it was just down to a bit of consistency. We had a lot of injuries, so hopefully everything can just come together, and with the quality we have, we should be right up there.
“It looks like a proper League Two this year with all the teams that have come into it, so there’s going to be a lot of experienced teams, a lot of know-how.”
