When Crawley Town gained promotion to League One last season, you’d have been forgiven for thinking they would go straight back down.
This summer has done little to alleviate those fears, and many are tipping the East Sussex outfit for an immediate return to the fourth tier with the start of the 2024-25 campaign just weeks away.
Last season was a strange one for Town, with the club having been condemned by many to a non-league return. But that was not the case. Despite a less than incredible season, which featured 18 league defeats, Crawley snuck into the play-offs by a single point, where they annihilated MK Dons before emerging victorious over Crewe Alexandra at Wembley.
Thoughts then turned to this term, which looks like it’s going to be a long one at Broadfield Stadium. There’s a myriad of issues at the club which suggest survival is going to be a long shot with relegation likely.
First, there’s the glaring problem of the squad, which looks completely different to the 2023-24 promotion winners. Eight of the players who started at Wembley in May are no longer at the club, meaning there is very little continuity and suggesting the new side may need time to gel which could lead to a slow start.
These losses were star men across the pitch, with goalkeeper Corey Addai and striker Danilo Orsi two of the standout sales. Whether these outgoings were purely for financial purposes or other reasons is debatable, but such an exodus from a winning team can’t help them going forward.
There are also the teams they’ve sold to that need to be considered, with last year’s top scorer Orsi heading to Burton Albion who are a direct rival, weakening their position at the foot of the table. Long-term, if they do go down, they may struggle in League Two as many players have gone to teams they were competing with last season.
Then there’s the incomings. Not only are they vastly outnumbered by players leaving, but the quality is arguably not there compared to what they had. Gavan Holohan and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy are solid League Two signings alongside several pickups from non-league, although Scott Malone is a good acquisition with experience. These are hardly signings that inspire hopes of returning to League One in a year’s time.
Ownership is also a problem with WAGMI United proving highly controversial, although they did oversee a promotion. Whether they can adapt to League One is yet to be seen, but they have hardly provided stability and sound decision-making during their tenure.
All these points aside, there is hope for Crawley Town fans. While precious few players have stayed there is still some talent left in the likes of Jack Roles and Ronan Darcy, who were impressive last campaign.
They also have a fantastic manager in Scott Lindsey who defied all expectations with Town last year, creating a strong togetherness and team spirit. This will be even more important now with an underdog mentality needed to gain some more scalps in the third tier, which may be what they need to stay up.
Teams who go up through the League Two play-offs tend to struggle so Crawley aren’t alone, and the lack of expectation may help them. Despite this, things are still looking bleak for them, and all things considered, an immediate relegation could be staring them in the face.
