Having seen previous head coach Scott Lindsey leave for League Two side Milton Keynes Dons earlier this week, Crawley Town have moved quickly by appointing Rob Elliot as their new manager.
The 38 year old has left his role as head coach of National League side Gateshead and signed a two and a half year deal with the League One side. Elliot’s first game in charge of the Red Devils will be on the weekend when they travel to Wycombe Wanderers.
Who is Rob Elliot?
Elliott started his career in non-league with Erith Town before moving to the academy at Charlton Athletic. The goalkeeper had a number of loan spells with Bishop’s Stortford, Notts County and Accrington Stanley, winning promotion to the EFL with Stanley in the 2005-05 season.
The 38 year old made his first appearance for the Addicks in April 2008 and went on to establish himself as Charlton’s first choice keeper, making over 100 appearances. A move to Newcastle United occurred in 2011 but Elliot never nailed down a starting position as the Magpies’ goalkeeper with 68 appearances during his nine year stay.
The former Charlton youth player represented the Republic of Ireland internationally and finished his playing career with Gateshead, coupling up with a role as technical director. He was appointed caretaker manager of the National League side in October 2023 when Williamson left for MK Dons.
Elliott carried on the good work started by Williamson and arguably improved them, leading them to a sixth place finish and winning the FA Trophy for the first time in the club’s history. Elliot joins Crawley, leaving Gateshead in fifth place in the National League after a good start to the season.
What can Elliot bring to Crawley?
Given the style of play that Lindsey implemented at Crawley, it is no surprise that the club have seen Elliot as the best fit for the role based upon the work he has done at Gateshead.
Despite being new to a role as a manager, Elliot has a 57% win record from the 49 games managed so far during his time with the Heed, picking up an average of 1.9 points per game. Not only is the 38 year old’s record impressive, it will also be his style of play that caught Crawley’s attention.
Crawley’s new manager has implemented an attacking brand of football at the National League club. So far this season, the Heed have had 15.3 shots per game on average and scored an average of two goals per game.
Elliot’s Gateshead are a possession based side, similar to Lindsey’s Crawley, with an emphasis on playing out from defence. In the eleven games so far this season, the Heed have had an average of 64.4% possession and have completed 478 accurate passes per game with a success rate of 85.8%.
Out of possession, Elliot likes to play on the front foot with an aggressive press and an emphasis on winning possession back in attacking areas of the pitch. The 3-5-2 formation usually deployed by Crawley’s new manager will be similar to what his new squad are used to having played in a 3-4-2-1 formation under Lindsey.
Despite his novelty as a manager, Elliot has implemented a successful style of play at Gateshead. Having exceeded expectations with the North East side when compared to the budgets of sides they are competing with in the fifth tier, the former Newcastle goalkeeper will hope to carry that mentality into his new role in League One.
Will Elliot succeed at Crawley?
Having been favourites for the drop at the beginning of the season, Elliot will have his work cut out to keep the Red Devils in the third tier. However, the club’s owners realise how big a task this will be for their new manager:
“We’re not appointing Rob to be Scott Lindsey 2.0. We are bringing him on because he is a hungry young coach who brings plenty of experience and knowledge to the table in his own right, as well as a forward-thinking, data-driven approach to the game that will enable him to make the best decisions for the club and match what we value as an ownership group”.
“Yes, our most immediate goal is to stay up this season — and we believe Rob gives us the best chance to do that — but this appointment is also about building sustainable success over the long term”.
Based on the success that Elliot brought to Gateshead in his spell as head coach, there is no doubting his ability to develop a team to compete against the odds. The step up in quality from the National League to League One may force the new Crawley manager to diversify his style of play in order to achieve the club’s aim of retaining their status as a League One club but the Sussex club have undoubtedly got their hands on one of the brightest young managerial talents around.