The other Red Devils, Crawley Town, are newly promoted to the Football League and planning to rise far further. In this exclusive interview, Tom James caught up with their new head groundsman just after his appointment
A Devil’s Own T
he last nine months have seen a full-blooded renaissance for professional football in the South-East of England. Rural Sussex has enjoyed few successes
throughout the history of sport, with only Brighton & Hove Albion fighting to retain the county’s footballing pride. Until recently, it looked like Sussex would lose even that representative, as Brighton battled for survival in England’s lowest professional division. Times change though and the 2010/11 season has signalled a new era for Sussex clubs as, for the first time ever, thanks to a double promotion, the county will now have two teams battling it out in the Football League. The recent successes of Brighton are well documented, thanks to a move to a cutting edge new stadium in the heart of the South Downs at Falmer, the managerial skills of former Chelsea favourite, Gus Poyet, and a healthy budget all playing a role in their promotion from nPower League 1. Yet, some thirty miles away up the A23
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in the county’s second largest urban centre, Crawley, the town’s football club - the once lowly Crawley Town FC - catapulted itself spectacularly into the Football League, with a runaway title win in the Blue Square Bet Premier division. This after a jet-propelled climb through the lower echelons of semi-professional football to the climax that saw them top the league and rack up over 100 points in the season just finished. Crawley Town’s swelling fan base was
probably pinching itself throughout last season, as they not only saw their side dominate their league but also witnessed a fairytale run in the FA Cup as they disposed of nPower Championship’s Derby County, then nPower League 2 Torquay United, to reach the 5th round, where they faced mighty Manchester United at Old Trafford - a fixture that drew support from over 9,000 travelling away fans. The fact that Crawley’s Red Devils only succumbed to the champions 1-0 at the Stadium of Dreams has prompted many commentators to tip them for promotion next season too. A move into the Football League not
only requires big adjustments from the players and management, but also brings new responsibilities and an expectation from club and supporters to deliver the standards expected in the professional leagues.
Crawley’s home ground - the
Broadfield Stadium - was one of the most sought after in the Conference, and is likely to be equally as popular in League Two with plans to further extend the ground to seat over 6,000 spectators, more than doubling its current capacity. Moving from their original home at
Town Mead in 1997, Crawley Town relocated to the council-owned stadium, a site that better suited their ambitions, with the scope for continued development if the club were to progress further.
Immediately after securing promotion this year, the club was on the hunt, sourcing a turfcare professional to take permanent charge of what is, arguably, the most important element of any stadium - the pitch. FA rules state that, with promotion, must come a full-time groundsman, so
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