See new owners say want to take club to Championship. Why on earth does someone want to throw money at club that History shows top gates not much more then 3/3500. I am all for smaller clubs but cannot understand how many clubs in Div 1 and 2 survive on 1500/2500 crowds. Cant see how on these gates full time players can be justified.
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Crawley Football Club
- Thread starter amexer
- Start date
sir albion
New member
To really go for it you'd need a new bigger stadium and go from there as Crawley could pull in a fair few over time like many other clubs.
Lurchy
Well-known member
- Jul 2, 2014
- 2,422
Remind us, what was the average attendance we got when we were at Withdean?
brightn'ove
cringe
Is there really the money in the championship to justify splashing all that cash to get a small club there? Yeovil have shown that it can be devastating once you start going back the other way.
midnight_rendezvous
Well-known member
I always think we miss a trick with Crawley being up the road. They always seem to have a very thin squad and lack any depth. Why not use them to develop our youngsters? Surely the likes of Walton, Rea, Hunt, Starkey, Harper, The new Norwegian winger etc could be loaned to Cralwey. It would greatly benefit the players as they would get competitive games,even if it is at L2 level, and Crawley would get some new blood to flesh out their squad. Win win.
Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
Develop,Our
youngsters ?
youngsters ?
Pinkie Brown
Wir Sind das Volk
From the BBC website:
Turkish businessman Eren recently said he hopes to take Crawley to the Championship within eight to 10 years.
In a statement issued to BBC Sussex, Eren described Crawley as a club with "a long history" and "huge potential".
"The prospect of making this club fulfil its potential is an exciting challenge," he said.
Eren, who is also involved in football in Turkey, added: "It has always been a desire to apply my football philosophy in England, the home of football.
"Over the past year, I have actively sought the right club. When we heard of the prospect of Crawley, I knew immediately it was the right choice
Nothing personal against Crawley. However the highlighted quote shows this guy has limited knowledge of Crawley FC and the English game. He's blowing the usual plaudits that have quoted so many times by new owners with big ideas that all end in tears. Many clubs have been there, done that, got the T Shirt. I hope I'm wrong but history would suggest Crawley and their fans should be wary.
Turkish businessman Eren recently said he hopes to take Crawley to the Championship within eight to 10 years.
In a statement issued to BBC Sussex, Eren described Crawley as a club with "a long history" and "huge potential".
"The prospect of making this club fulfil its potential is an exciting challenge," he said.
Eren, who is also involved in football in Turkey, added: "It has always been a desire to apply my football philosophy in England, the home of football.
"Over the past year, I have actively sought the right club. When we heard of the prospect of Crawley, I knew immediately it was the right choice
Nothing personal against Crawley. However the highlighted quote shows this guy has limited knowledge of Crawley FC and the English game. He's blowing the usual plaudits that have quoted so many times by new owners with big ideas that all end in tears. Many clubs have been there, done that, got the T Shirt. I hope I'm wrong but history would suggest Crawley and their fans should be wary.
StonehamPark
#Brighton-Nil
What a bizarre comment.
Average attendances at The Goldstone were what, 15k?
We've always had half decent numbers whilst at a permanent ground.
What are/were Crawley's averages?
Lurchy
Well-known member
- Jul 2, 2014
- 2,422
Crawleys attendance is about half what ours was whilst at Withdean - yes, there are differences between the two clubs but with the potential catchment area for fans and with the right investment there's no reason why their core following couldn't grow, especially of they plan to build a lot of new houses in the area.
You've been listening to that Winkelman bloke, haven't you?
There is nothing to suggest that Crawley is a football hotbed awaiting it's chance to show itself.
I do think his timeframe of 8 to 10 years is, at least, more realistic than most new owners.
Murray 17
Well-known member
- Jul 6, 2003
- 2,163
I'm with Stoneham Park on this one. When they finished 10th in League 1 their average attendance was 3300. They'd need to find at least another 10000 per game to have a chance of surviving in the Championship. I think some clubs will always be small, and Crawley are one of those.
StonehamPark
#Brighton-Nil
Forget everything you know about Withdean attendances, they don't mean a thing.
We had 94 years to grow a fanbase with a HUGE catchment area and just about averaged 15k and hitting 30k+ on special occasions.
We're now at the Amex and as long as we stay in the Championship, we'll likely continue to hover between 18-25k.
Without digging too deep, the record attendance at Crawley's old place was 3.5k, Broadfield's record is 5880.
So in 67 years, Crawley haven't reached 5 figures.
Crawley has a large catchment area, but clearly people don't want to watch/support Crawley for whatever various reasons.
Kaiser_Soze
Who is Kaiser Soze??
- Apr 14, 2008
- 1,355
Crawley is a transient town. It was a new town expanded in the 60's with a large influx of people moving from London. With that comes a lot of people that have a family club. With the airport you get a lot of people moving south to work there. They still follow their home club and don't necessarily stay down south.
Both these factors severely limit the catchment area of the club and their potential to grow.
Both these factors severely limit the catchment area of the club and their potential to grow.
chucky1973
New member
Coming from Crawley, I can say that they will be happy be a yoyo club between league 1 and 2. Nothing more.
Mo Gosfield
Well-known member
- Aug 11, 2010
- 6,364
Correct.
They are sandwiched in the middle of the catchment area for London and Brighton. There are some clubs that you know will just never grow because of location and other influences. Wycombe are the same and Orient as well. Good clubs but very limited potential.
Crawley have done remarkably well and sound management and league status should be the primary target. History shows that the higher you go up the pyramid, the more important crowd size is.
The Stout Yeoman
Master Farter
I have never understood why they dont play on a Friday night like Tranmere used to (not sure if they still do) ... there must be a potential there to increase the crowd figure ? They've tried everything else ... other club season tickets go free ... kids for a quid ...
looney
Banned
- Jul 7, 2003
- 15,652
Crawley and Gatwick are villages, you may as well set up a Hassocks and Henfield United and throw money at it.
In time they may shave some of the support from South London clubs after all Brighton is just London Overspill. But 10 years is ambitious, after all look how far MKDons have come in what? 20 years?
In time they may shave some of the support from South London clubs after all Brighton is just London Overspill. But 10 years is ambitious, after all look how far MKDons have come in what? 20 years?
I don't think you can forget everything about Withdean. When we were writing letters and demanding a new stadium much was made of selling out Withdean, but we rarely did, if at all. Same with Crawley now I guess, if people aren't inspired by the venue, proposition and the team they won't come in their numbers. However, build a new stand, add some scoreboards, HT entertainment and a couple of big name (for Div 1) signings and they may see numbers increase, it'll take a few years but what have Horsham, Hayward's Heath, Burgess Hill, Crawley, Gatwick, Horley, Redhill got to offer?
Marshy
Well-known member
More chance of Crawley being in the Conference in 5 years than the Championship in my opinion