Crawley Town F.C.
Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in, the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1896 as Crawley Football Club, helped to found the West Sussex League later that year before transferring to the Mid-Sussex League. The club disbanded in 1935, but were re-established in the Brighton, Hove & District League three years later. The club switched to the Sussex County League in 1951 and then moved on to the Metropolitan League five years later. In 1958, the club changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club. The club moved from amateur to semi-professional status in 1962 and were accepted into the Southern League the following year. They secured promotion out of Division One in 1968–69, only to suffer relegation the next season.
Crawley were promoted out of the Southern League Southern Section 1983–84 and spent the next 21 seasons in the Premier Division, before winning promotion into the Conference as champions of the Southern League in 2003–04. The club turned fully professional in 2005 but faced immediate financial difficulties and entered administration the following year. The club survived and appointed Steve Evans as a manager in May 2007. Evans led them into the Football League as champions of the Conference in 2010–11 and then secured promotion in their first season in League Two. Crawley spent three seasons in League One before relegation in 2015. After nine seasons in League Two, Crawley won the League Two play-offs in 2024 to earn promotion back to League One, before being immediately relegated to League Two again the following season. The club has played home games at Broadfield Stadium since 1997 and are nicknamed the "Reds" or "Town" due to the colour of their kit.
History
Early years
Having played friendly matches from 1890, with the club's first match played on 22 November 1890 at home to Lingfield, Crawley Town were formed in 1896, and became founding members of the West Sussex Football League that year, joining the Junior Division. They remained in the West Sussex league for five years before transferring to the Mid-Sussex League, winning the League in only their second season. After disbanding at the end of the 1934–35 season, the club reformed in 1938 and joined Division Two of the Brighton, Hove & District League. They played in the Sussex County Emergency League in 1945–45, before returning to the Brighton, Hove & District League in 1946–47, becoming members of Division One.They stayed at this level until they entered the Sussex County League in 1951 before switching again five years later to the Metropolitan League, which was a competition for both professional and amateur sides. In 1958, Crawley changed their name to Crawley Town. Town retained their amateur status and went on to win the Metropolitan League Challenge Cup in 1959.
Crawley turned semi-professional in 1962 and the following year they joined Division One of the Southern League. In 1969 they were promoted to Premier Division of the Southern League but the joy was short-lived as the following season they were relegated back to the first division where they remained until the 1983–84 season when they were promoted as runners-up.
Crawley's most successful cup run at the time was in the 1991–92 season when they reached the FA Cup third round proper and played local Brighton & Hove Albion, losing 5–0 in front of 18,301 at the Goldstone Ground.
In 1999, the club entered administration with debts estimated to be around £400,000. In October 1999, the club was bought by John Duly after a period of two months in administration, with Billy Smith appointed as manager. At the time, the Reds were second-bottom, but the club went on to finish in 12th place, six points above the relegation zone, at the end of this season various players from the first and reserve teams were released to try and free up finances, including John Sawyer, Jason Davy, Daniel Cullingham, Alex Barber and Jimmy Drew who all were part of a promising reserve team at the time finishing runner-up in the reserve league to Crystal Palace reserves. Whilst the 2000–01 season saw Town finish 11th, Crawley were much improved in a 2001–02 campaign which saw them finish fourth. This season saw the return of some of the previously released players as the administrators had now found new owners. Whilst Crawley finished seventh in 2002–03, the Reds found success in the 2003–04 season, when they ended their 20-season stay in the Premier Division of the Southern League by winning the division with 84 points, 12 points clear of second-placed Weymouth, and winning the Southern League Cup for the second successive season. The title was secured with four matches remaining with a 3–0 victory at Welling United, sparking celebrations from a large travelling contingent. Crawley would now be playing in the Football Conference, the highest level of non-League football, for the first time in their history.
Conference
A final position of 12th in their first season in the National Division was considered an impressive achievement for the club who finished as the highest-ranked part-time team in the country. Crawley also retained the Sussex Senior Cup by defeating Ringmer.In 2005, the SA Group bought the club and made the decision to go full-time for the first time in the club's history. Although this was necessary in order to allow them to compete in the division, it led to the departure of several key players, including fans' favourite Charlie MacDonald and goalkeeper Andy Little, who were unable to give up their day jobs to play full-time.
The 2005–06 season didn't start well for Crawley as the club found themselves third from bottom and out of the FA Cup after a shock defeat to Braintree Town. Francis Vines was subsequently sacked and replaced by former Chelsea FC manager and player John Hollins and his assistant Alan Lewer. Things got worse for Crawley and as attendances dropped, so too did the club's income; the club's owners were forced to slash the players' and staff wages by 50% due to lack of funds. Several key players left the club, including captain Ian Simpemba, Simon Wormull and record signing Daryl Clare; it looked certain that relegation was on the cards. However five straight wins through March and April saw the club climb the table to 17th place and beat the drop by 10 points. The club was docked three points at the end of the season for breaching the annual playing budget but this had no effect on the final standings and Crawley's league status was safe. However, they later went into administration, with insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor placed in control of the club.
Financial problems
Although Crawley Town F.C. had been in administration in the late 1990s, trouble began in March 2006 when the club's players and staff were made to take a 50% pay cut and the entire squad was put up for sale; Crawley went into administration in June of that year. It was revealed by local newspaper the Argus several days later that the chairman Chas Majeed was an undischarged bankrupt and therefore banned from holding a high position within the club. Majeed later resigned from his post but remained involved.The fans started a "Red Card" campaign in order to remove Chas Majeed and his brother Azwar Majeed from the club, with fans waving red cards at the Majeeds and forming a supporters' trust. It was revealed that the club was around £1.1million in debt with nearly £400,000 due to HM Revenue and Customs, and the Majeeds claimed they were owed £700,000 by the club. By July of that year, the debts were closer to £1.4 million, including money owed to current and former staff, and an offer of 25p in the pound was rejected by the creditors. With HMRC unwilling to move on its demand and being the biggest creditor, it looked unlikely that the club would be saved.
By August 2006, only one bid had come in for the club which was from the current owners; it was rejected by three to one; the administrators were therefore obliged to liquidate the club and it was announced that the club would fold later that day. However, a couple of days later, in one final attempt to rescue the club, the creditors met again to decide on a final offer. The creditors were split and so the administrator voted in Crawley Town's favour, allowing them to start the new season. The creditors would meet 14 days later to decide on an offer of 50p in the pound. The club was told that if the offer was rejected then the club would fold there and then, and there would be no going back. By September 2006 the club's debt was at £1.8 million making former/current players and staff the biggest creditors and giving hope that a rescue bid would be accepted. The offer of 50p in the pound was later accepted and Crawley Town was able to continue playing for the time being, though this didn't stop HMRC from trying to wind up the SAGroup over unpaid taxes. Azwar Majeed was later jailed for tax fraud relating to his various other businesses.
Crawley started the 2006–07 season by winning their opening three games and all but wiped out their 10-point deduction. The following month, however, the club's form dipped and this led to John Hollins and Alan Lewer losing their jobs. The news did not go down well with the fans as the pair had stuck with Crawley when others decided to leave and they had managed to lift the club off the bottom despite a 10-point deduction. They were replaced by players Ben Judge and David Woozley with the help of John Yems, the former Fulham FC and Millwall FC coach. Life started well for the trio who picked up 10 points from a possible 12. Crawley finished 18th in the division and managed to beat the drop after securing the point they needed on the final day of the season.
In May 2007, it was confirmed that all of Crawley Town's debts had been cleared. However, complications arose and as a result Crawley were given a six-point penalty for the new season and a transfer embargo was put in place because of financial irregularities. It is believed that Crawley failed to confirm to the league that the debts had been paid. For the start of the 2007–08 season, a new regime was put into place which included Victor Marley as club Chairman and Steve Evans as manager, with Paul Raynor as an assistant. Crawley finished the season in a respectable 15th place, and were runners-up in the Sussex Senior Cup, despite the club's financial position and points deduction.
In April 2008 Prospect Estate Holdings Limited took control of Crawley after buying it from the SA Group in conjunction with former owner John Duly. The club's financial worries were over and the club could look to build again and start the 2008–09 season on a level playing field.
After a short period of stability, Crawley Town ended up in the High Court in London to face a winding-up order on 17 February 2010; again this was because of money being owed to HMRC. The hearing was adjourned until 17 March 2010. The latest setback appeared to be the end of Crawley Town, as the club had very few assets to sell in order to satisfy the debt. However, the case was later dismissed by the High Court as the club proved the debt had been paid.
In a move that showed confidence in the new management, on 29 March 2010 Crawley Borough Council agreed to lease the Broadfield Stadium to Crawley Town F.C. and to help secure the long-term sustainability of the club.