Dismantling Of A Promotion Winning Side
Following the unlikely promotion via the playoffs in 2024, Lindsey saw his side ripped apart before they began their League One campaign. Outstanding goalkeeper Corey Addai left, as did star striker Danilo Orsi, Kellan Gordon, and Klaidi Lolos. In total, eight of the starting eleven left the club in the summer after winning the playoffs.
The manager would leave Broadfield Stadium in September of that League One season, only to return in March of last year after what proved to be an unsuccessful spell in charge of League Two outfit Milton Keynes Dons.
It has not been plain sailing since his return, picking up less than a point per game on average and managing just 19 from 26 matches so far this season However, Lindsey believes the club is heading in the right direction.
Still In League One With Current Owners
It has been a busy January so far for the Red Devils, with 11 signings made so far, including the return of Danilo Orsi and Kellan Gordon on permanent deals and Klaidi Lolos on loan from Peterborough United, after the Greek midfielder had originally left the club for Bolton Wanderers.
Crawley find themselves just a point outside of the drop zone in League Two and on a run of four straight defeats and 11 league games without a win. Despite that, the manager believes the club is only going in one direction.
Speaking to Sussex World, Lindsey said.
“If Raph was in charge back then, we would still be in League One. without a shadow of a doubt.”
“I’m convinced had he been in charge back then, we would definitely be in League One still, for sure. This club is only going to go in one direction, without a doubt.”
The Raph that Lindsey speaks of is Raphael Khalil, who leads KB Sports and Leisure, which now owns the club. WAGMI were in charge at the time of promotion, and Khalil spoke with Sussex World about the break up of that promotion side.
“It was a little bit of a shame after the promotion-winning season to have broken up that team. I think that was a mistake. I mean, if I was in charge at that time, that would never have happened.”
Khalil and the ownership group took over during the summer, while the transfer window was open, but Lindsey admits they made mistakes in the market.
“We got plenty wrong in the summer, but I feel that the takeover was kind of like in the middle of it, so it wasn’t smooth. Nothing was smooth. We didn’t have a real process in place on the recruitment. We’ve gone from using heavy data to not using any data.”
The experienced boss believes the club now has it right, helped by director of football Erdem Konyar.
“Now we’re trying to include data because we have to. It’s the way the game is. I think it’s important we do. We’ve got Erdem [Konyar, director of football] in and there’s more of a process now. It’s more smooth.”
“There’s a process to how we work. There’s a process to how Erdem brings players to my table and then we kind of tick them off and look at them and understand what it looks like.”
With 11 new signings in the squad, Crawley will be hopeful their fortunes will change, starting with tomorrow’s trip north to face Barrow.