[Football] Crawley Town no longer officially exist

[Eeyore]

Crawley Town get crowds of 3,000+ at a quite a few of their matches. Can't help thinking that Withdean may not have looked a lot different if Albion had stuck around in that league.

I love 'teams like' Crawley. Proper fans. And some folk who have a snipe are often the bandwagon hitchers at this end anyway.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Too much like common sense.

Both Luton and QPR played on the surface in the top flight I believe, not sure about Oldham, they definitely had dug it up when the Premier League had started.

Don't they play on them in the Scottish league?

Edit: I'm deleting my silly post as it isn't appropriate on this thread.

 

[Superphil]

I really don’t get the beef with Crawley on here, they’re absolutely no threat to us, they’re pretty insignificant in the scheme of things and apart from thumping them in the cup many years ago there is pretty much zero history between us.
I personally couldn’t care less about them, but I’d hate to see them go out of business, and actually it’s pretty good for a small county like Sussex to have two professional football clubs.

I agree, got no beef with Crawley and hope they can get out of the crap they’re in at the moment.

I just looked it up, and Sussex combined as a county is about the 10th largest county by size in England, out of 46 counties in total. That doesn’t include the city of Brighton and Hove. And for population it’s about the 7th largest (not including B&H).

 

[London Irish]

I think there is more going on here than meets the eye. I’m a very big sceptic of crypto involvement in football, particularly its ambition to detach the fan experience and fan culture from watching games live, but I do fear the crypto bros aren’t the worst people involved in this story. When the Americans took over in the Spring, they uncovered quite a toxic internal culture at the club that led to a number of black players making complaints to the PFA and FA. The then-manager John Yems is currently up on something like 15 or 16 FA charges of making discriminatory comments. He was a very popular figure with a hardcore element of Crawley’s fan base (he did get good results on the pitch) and they been in opposition to the new owners ever since. With results disappointing on the pitch since then, they have been able to win over a middle ground of fans. A former owner of the club wants to re-acquire the club (no doubt at a fraction of what the Americans paid for it) and re-employ Yems, regardless of the outcome of the racism scandal.

I do tend to think a fan base that gets sucked into becoming apologists for the kind of stuff that Yems is charged with is a much more worrying development than some wacky ideas about selling NFTs based on third kits or doing cross promotions with YouTubers like the Sidemen

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Gets better. The chairman announced before tonight's game that he'd be sitting in the dugout with the stand-in manager.

Crawley Town Football Club can confirm that assistant coach Darren Byfield will take charge of the team for today’s match against Stevenage and Monday’s game with Newport County. Club co-chairman Preston Johnson will also be in the dugout to show his support to Darren, the staff and the players.

They lost 3-1 to Stevenage.

 

[jackalbion]

I think there is more going on here than meets the eye. I’m a very big sceptic of crypto involvement in football, particularly its ambition to detach the fan experience and fan culture from watching games live, but I do fear the crypto bros aren’t the worst people involved in this story. When the Americans took over in the Spring, they uncovered quite a toxic internal culture at the club that led to a number of black players making complaints to the PFA and FA. The then-manager John Yems is currently up on something like 15 or 16 FA charges of making discriminatory comments. He was a very popular figure with a hardcore element of Crawley’s fan base (he did get good results on the pitch) and they been in opposition to the new owners ever since. With results disappointing on the pitch since then, they have been able to win over a middle ground of fans. A former owner of the club wants to re-acquire the club (no doubt at a fraction of what the Americans paid for it) and re-employ Yems, regardless of the outcome of the racism scandal.

I do tend to think a fan base that gets sucked into becoming apologists for the kind of stuff that Yems is charged with is a much more worrying development than some wacky ideas about selling NFTs based on third kits or doing cross promotions with YouTubers like the Sidemen

I don’t think that’s fair, knowing a few Crawley fans (I was actually in the away end with them tonight) a lot don’t like Yems, but this WAGMI lot have lost the plot, like being in the dugout tonight. I do think they have a long term vision they have just made a pigs ear of it. There is a different turn every day, they needed to get rid of the toxic cultures, but they also needed to replace it with a sensible structure, and they have got only one football person involved. They have a director of football called Chris Galley, who is essentially playing football manager, but lacks any experience in a director of football role and used to work for a stats based football company. They need a competent CEO and build from there. I don’t think the WAGMI lot want to fold the club, but they seriously don’t have a clue at all.

 

[pure_white]

I wonder if the fans will protest and perhaps a few here can give them tips on what to do and not do there. After all we have had a fair bit of experience there down the line.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Gets better. The chairman announced before tonight's game that he'd be sitting in the dugout with the stand-in manager.

Crawley Town Football Club can confirm that assistant coach Darren Byfield will take charge of the team for today’s match against Stevenage and Monday’s game with Newport County. Club co-chairman Preston Johnson will also be in the dugout to show his support to Darren, the staff and the players.

They lost 3-1 to Stevenage.

That’s got to be the tipping point for the Crawley fans, could you have imagined Bill Archer sitting next to Jimmy Case for the Canvey Island cup replay in 1995?

Fun fact Darren Byfield was once married to TV’s Alesha Dixon.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Another win for the Owners fit and proper test

 

[London Irish]

I don’t think that’s fair, knowing a few Crawley fans (I was actually in the away end with them tonight) a lot don’t like Yems, but this WAGMI lot have lost the plot, like being in the dugout tonight. I do think they have a long term vision they have just made a pigs ear of it. There is a different turn every day, they needed to get rid of the toxic cultures, but they also needed to replace it with a sensible structure, and they have got only one football person involved. They have a director of football called Chris Galley, who is essentially playing football manager, but lacks any experience in a director of football role and used to work for a stats based football company. They need a competent CEO and build from there. I don’t think the WAGMI lot want to fold the club, but they seriously don’t have a clue at all.

I mean he worked at Brentford, which is a pretty successful set up. Where do Crawley fans think they are going to get their DoF from? Manchester United? Barcelona?

While the owners have made obvious mistakes like their recent choice of manager, their results on the pitch have not been that dissimilar to the same stage last season. There is something else driving the outsized hostility and bitterness and I’m afraid it is the backlash by those who think Yems did no wrong and is just a victim of the woke Yanks.

If Yems ever was brought back to the club, Crawley would truly become the pariah club of English football. The Bob Bobley antics of the Wagmi guys pale into insignificance alongside that

 

[London Irish]

That’s got to be the tipping point for the Crawley fans, could you have imagined Bill Archer sitting next to Jimmy Case for the Canvey Island cup replay in 1995?

Fun fact Darren Byfield was once married to TV’s Alesha Dixon.

But Ian what have the crypto bros at Crawley done that is in any way comparable to what Archer did? They appear to have stuffed up managerial appointments by having a preference for hiring younger academy managers rather than grizzled old blokes with 10 sackings behind them, but that’s hardly a crime. They’ve actually cleared up debts left by previous owners and cut season ticket prices by 30% in the middle of a cost of living crisis, hardly Archer level stuff

 

[jackalbion]

I mean he worked at Brentford, which is a pretty successful set up. Where do Crawley fans think they are going to get their DoF from? Manchester United? Barcelona?

While the owners have made obvious mistakes like their recent choice of manager, their results on the pitch have not been that dissimilar to the same stage last season. There is something else driving the outsized hostility and bitterness and I’m afraid it is the backlash by those who think Yems did no wrong and is just a victim of the woke Yanks.

If Yems ever was brought back to the club, Crawley would truly become the pariah club of English football. The Bob Bobley antics of the Wagmi guys pale into insignificance alongside that

Yems is what I refer to when I say toxic culture, but at the same time, I could’ve said they shouldn’t have appointed Etherington without the right structure in place. Other than the coaching staff they have nobody with football experienc, Galley worked for a stats based company, but lacks the basic knowledge of the marginal differences which wins you games.

 

[Lenny Rider]

But Ian what have the crypto bros at Crawley done that is in any way comparable to what Archer did? They appear to have stuffed up managerial appointments by having a preference for hiring younger academy managers rather than grizzled old blokes with 10 sackings behind them, but that’s hardly a crime. They’ve actually cleared up debts left by previous owners and cut season ticket prices by 30% in the middle of a cost of living crisis, hardly Archer level stuff

The Crawley fans clearly don’t see it that way, they team got delayed leaving Stevenage apparently as the travelling supported protested in front of the team coach.

My Archer analogy was more about a member of the ownership going in to the inner sanctum of the dressing room and the dugout.

Bring it up to the present, clearly it would never happen, but just imagine how it would received on here or with the wider Albion support if Tony or Paul Barber insisted on sitting on the bench at Everton and was in the dressing room for the entire build up to the game?

But on a lighter note Happy New Year.

 

[LennyTee]

Crawley are a non league team plying their trade in the league. They are never going to get any bigger and have already had their high point in their history. The only thing saving them from relegation is the clusterfck of crisis teams in that division every year. If they do eventually get relegated then I'd imagine they won't exist in that stadium within 3 seasons.
Fair play to the fans who go, especially having a successful Albion on the doorstep but how many will be prepared to do a Boreham Wood away trip (even though, one or two teams aside, the national is probably a stronger division than league Two)
For the fans who have been on the journey from the start, they have had the incredible highs and have probably been expecting the lows every season, it is jousting getting closer now.
I followed Whitehawk from the County league to the National South final at Boreham Wood and it was a great 6 seasons or so but always knew they'd find there way back to the correct level.
Crawley are on their way back to their level.

 

[US Seagull]

A story in the Guardian:

Crypto chaos: how Crawley crumbled under owners’ reckless leadership

The League Two club are in serious trouble thanks to an owner in the dugout, a 32-day managerial reign and a bizarre bonus

www.theguardian.com

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0dp5f6w - 1:40:25 in there is an interview with Dean Cox around the issues there. Some interesting comments about getting in a 'proper' manager but also about managers "being dictated to" which would possibly explain why Etherington bailed out so quickly. There is then an interview with a couple of fans.

 

[London Irish]

Yems banned for 15 months for 12 incidents of discriminatory comments. I’m afraid this triggered the change in sentiment among Crawley’s fan base to the owners once they suspended him. You had Kevin Betsy his replacement booed and chanted at, at his FIRST home game. Not good sadly, dark ages stuff

Former Crawley manager John Yems gets 15-month ban over racism charges

The former Crawley manager John Yems has been banned from football for 15 months for alleged racist comments made to players between 2019 and 2022

www.theguardian.com

 

[London Irish]

A story in the Guardian:

Crypto chaos: how Crawley crumbled under owners’ reckless leadership

The League Two club are in serious trouble thanks to an owner in the dugout, a 32-day managerial reign and a bizarre bonus

www.theguardian.com

A really weird article that didn’t contain a single reference to the racism scandal at the club. Glib cuttings piece

 

[Guinness Boy]

A really weird article that didn’t contain a single reference to the racism scandal at the club. Glib cuttings piece

Why would it? It's about the owners current failure.

The other Guardian article you posted about Yems certainly mentions it though. And, it would seem from that, Yems is indeed a racist scumbag who introduced a toxic culture, but that's not what the crypto bros talked about when they bought the club and introduced themselves. They promised success (if you could understand their deeply painful mangling of the English language) and they've delivered chaos.

 

[keaton]

The ludicrous case of subconscious racist John Yems shows the FA has 'some tolerance' after all

The Football Association have delivered their verdict on the John Yems racism case and their findings are wholly unsatisfactory in the 21st century.

www.football365.com

Independent FA panel slammed after finding John Yems to be ‘not a conscious racist’

Anti-racism campaigners have warned a ‘dangerous precedent’ has been set after the former Crawley manager John Yems avoided a life ban from football

www.theguardian.com