00:00Okay, welcome to a special episode of the Goalmouth Action Podcast.
00:06I'm Darren Howard.
00:07I'm joined by Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford as we look at some incredible overnight news
00:11coming from the Broadfield Stadium.
00:14Crawley Town announced last night that Scott Lindsay has returned for a second spell at
00:18the club just six months after leaving the Reds for MK Dons.
00:22He replaces Rob Elliott, who parted company with the club on Wednesday, and you can read
00:26all the latest Crawley Town news at sussexworld.co.uk.
00:29Well, firstly, Mark, I think it's fair to say very few people saw this coming, didn't
00:35they?
00:36Yeah, and I am one of those.
00:38I mean, you called me Crawley Town expert in the intro.
00:41I can't call myself that because I've written pieces.
00:45And yesterday I said I would eat my hat if Scott Lindsay returned.
00:52And this is the hat I said I would eat.
00:54It's the hat I bought outside Wembley when Crawley won and that playoff final in May
00:58last year.
00:59So I'm going to get some salt and pepper, a bit of pepper just to give it a bit of taste.
01:07But yeah, absolutely, absolutely astonishing news.
01:11And yeah, it was announced at midnight last night in the end.
01:14And I was just finishing up doing my other bit where I was writing about Malika being
01:19sacked on The Apprentice, our Sussex contestant, and I thought I'd go to bed now.
01:25And then I got a little bit of a heads up saying, oh, something might be happening soon.
01:30And I was like, oh, right, OK.
01:32And then waited around.
01:33And then, yeah, there it was, Scott Lindsay announced as the new manager of Crawley Town
01:37Football Club.
01:38Goodness me.
01:39Goodness me.
01:40Yeah.
01:41I mean, yeah, he left.
01:42When did he leave?
01:43It was September, beginning of September.
01:44He left towards the end of September.
01:46He left to join MK Dons, obviously didn't go well at MK Dons on, I think it was beginning
01:53of March.
01:55Yeah, he was parted ways with MK Dons after a really poor run of results and unconvincing
02:00victories.
02:02And yeah, and everybody at the time was calling for him to return and say, oh, let's get Scott
02:06Lindsay back.
02:07But just thought it wouldn't happen.
02:09And it has.
02:10And it's just reinvigorated the fans and everything.
02:14Just overnight, a simple decision like this has just reinvigorated everybody.
02:19And there's a lot of excitement now.
02:21Good, good.
02:22And do you think it's a good move for all parties, for the club, for Scott Lindsay,
02:26for the fans?
02:27Obviously, the fans are happy.
02:28Yeah.
02:29Yeah.
02:30The fans are obviously absolutely delighted.
02:31They're just, we'll get on to some of the comments in a bit, but I wrote an opinion
02:36piece last night saying about how I never saw this coming, but I'm happy to be proved
02:40wrong at any point.
02:41Yes.
02:42Yeah.
02:43But I said in the thing, it's a masterstroke from Wagmey because the last few, since Christmas
02:50really, it really has been, it's got to that stage again, where it's got a little bit toxic
02:54at the Broadfield Stadium.
02:56The fans have really turned on Wagmey, Wagmey haven't helped themselves.
03:00Fans have at times overreacted, but sometimes reacted appropriately, I think, to what some
03:05decisions that have been made, but it's a masterstroke from them because it is a bit
03:12of a diversion, but in a very good way, it's not like a deliberate, oh, we'll just get
03:16a Scott Lindsay and that'll make everything, everyone happy again, but it's just going
03:21to reinvigorate the club.
03:22I don't think it's going to save their season this season, but you never know.
03:27But for Scott Lindsay, I mean, he comes back, he's adored at Crawley Town for what he achieved
03:32last year.
03:33Yeah.
03:34Yeah.
03:35He's, we know what he can do.
03:36He's a really good manager.
03:37He doesn't have to settle in.
03:38He doesn't have to get to know the place.
03:40He doesn't have to do all this.
03:42He can hit the ground running and he is doing that.
03:44He's taking charge of the game against Bristol Rovers tomorrow.
03:49And yeah, I think it is a real, I was a little bit, I think there's a bit of cautious optimism
03:55with it because you've seen examples in the past of heroes coming back to manage.
04:02I was going to say that.
04:03Yeah.
04:04Yeah.
04:05Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool.
04:07People like that.
04:08Sometimes it just doesn't work.
04:09Yeah.
04:10But other times it can.
04:11Yeah.
04:12Yeah.
04:14Hopefully it will be that.
04:15And I think it's an appointment for the long term.
04:17So yeah, I think, I mean, yeah, it would be odd for me to be negative right now, I think,
04:25because there is such a huge buzz around this appointment and such excitement that I think,
04:31oh yeah, it's got to be a good move.
04:33And I think people who work at the club, the fans, myself, there is just new excitement.
04:40There are journalists I've already been speaking to, messaging, et cetera, saying, oh, this
04:44is exciting.
04:45And yeah, everybody's just absolutely buzzing.
04:47So there's going to be a feel-good factor for a few weeks now.
04:51And nobody's expecting Crawley to stay up.
04:53So he's got, nobody's got anything to lose.
04:56Nothing to lose.
04:57Yeah.
04:58Yeah.
04:59Hopefully the atmosphere is just going to be great for the home games for the rest of
05:02the season.
05:03Yeah.
05:04Yeah.
05:05Yeah.
05:06And you touched on it there, but what's the reaction from the fans been like?
05:08I can imagine that they're quite excited, aren't they?
05:11Oh God, yeah.
05:12I had people DMing me last night on X and on Facebook, just saying, oh my God, I'm not
05:17going to sleep tonight now.
05:19This is the greatest news ever kind of thing.
05:23I mean, Carol Bates, she put, wow, he's back, must have been some negotiating going on there.
05:29Fair play.
05:30CCFC, Sam posted, I could cry.
05:35Matt Butcher said, people are going to wake up to an early Christmas present tomorrow
05:38because it was done so late.
05:40There are people who didn't know this had happened until they woke up this morning.
05:46Bazman, CCFC said, unbelievable turn of events.
05:48Can we have Crawley, MK boys back too?
05:50That's referring to the players that Scott Lindsay took to, MK Dunne.
05:54Yes.
05:55Well, you didn't take Liam Kelly.
05:57Liam Kelly went in the summer, but then Jay Williams, he bought in the January transfer
06:01window.
06:02Lawrence McGuire, who was there on loan, Danilo Orsi went there on loan recently as well.
06:07So I think Crawley fans are hoping that he gets the band back together kind of thing.
06:12Yeah.
06:13Yeah.
06:14Yeah.
06:15I mean, there's another guy, Darren Rundle said, I must admit, I did not have this on
06:17my bingo card and I think that is the same.
06:21And there was one fan, Luke Howell, who yesterday morning after the odds came out and Scott
06:26Lindsay was favourite from the very instant, these bookies, they know what they're talking
06:29about, don't they?
06:30Yeah, they really get it wrong.
06:32Yeah.
06:33He said, Scott Lindsay favourite to be Crawley town manager.
06:36If this will not happen, if it does happen, I'll get a tattoo of Preston Johnson's beard
06:40on my leg.
06:41Oh my word.
06:43So he got a few, he got a few tweets last night, as you can imagine.
06:47And I've offered to video that happening.
06:49So hopefully that will be quite a good, good follow up story if he follows through with
06:53it.
06:54I mean, I've eaten my hat and I've got my hats being eaten and tattoos being done.
06:58Yeah.
06:59It's unbelievable.
07:00Yeah.
07:01Yeah, absolutely.
07:02Yeah.
07:03I haven't seen one, one negative comment yet.
07:05That's good.
07:06There probably are some because it's X and it's the Wild West, but yeah, the only ones
07:10I've seen are the positive, other positive ones and it should be positive because it
07:14is amazing news.
07:15Well, I hope it works out well, works out well for him.
07:19And what did you make of Preston Johnson's comments in the announcement?
07:23Does it suggest that this is looking to build for the future rather than trying to salvage
07:26something from this season?
07:28Yeah, I said just then that I don't think they can survive this year, but you never
07:32know.
07:33I mean, I wrote my opinion piece last night that they beat Bristol Rovers tomorrow.
07:38That's a nine, there's a nine point gap.
07:41The feel good factor, they win at Rotherham the week later, Bristol Rovers loses a six
07:45point gap.
07:46Then they're at home to Peterborough on the Tuesday, April the 1st, I think.
07:51And if they win that and Bristol Rovers, there's suddenly only a three point gap between them
07:56and safety.
07:58It's a big stretch, but with a new manager bounce and that it's not out of the realms
08:03of possibility with what Scott achieved last year as well, when it was all the odds were
08:07against him.
08:08But Preston Johnson said in his statement, we are very excited to welcome Scott back
08:11to Crawley Town.
08:12We all love the culture and commitment he brings to the club and the game.
08:15We're striving for success at the highest levels of English football and to strengthen
08:18relationships with our fans and the broader community.
08:22Our lead investors are committed to a long term vision and Scott Lindsay is essential
08:25to that.
08:26That last line there was very interesting.
08:29Our lead investors committed to a long term vision.
08:31So this is building something for the future now.
08:35And Scott Lindsay is such a perfect fit for Crawley Town, as he proved last year and at
08:41the end of the season when he was brought in, when he saved Crawley, when they looked
08:43absolutely doomed to go out of the Football League and then turned it around, got promotion.
08:51There's obviously people invested in Wagme who are saying we need Scott Lindsay back.
08:56And this is the time.
08:59And now we hope we can see Scott Lindsay be here for a long time and really set those
09:05foundations of a sustainable football club.
09:08It's likely to be in League Two next year, but we all know what he can do.
09:13He knows that level.
09:14He didn't do so well with MK Dons, as we saw, but maybe it just wasn't the fit there, it
09:20wasn't the right personality for that club.
09:24But for Crawley Town, he is the right personality.
09:26And when he said we love the culture and commitment he brings to the club and the game, Scott
09:32Lindsay changed the culture of Crawley Town when he came in.
09:34He said there were these repeatedly said on record that when he came in, there were players
09:41turning up late to training.
09:44There was no commitment.
09:45There was all this and that.
09:46And he changed that in a second.
09:49Those players that Crawley Town fans loved, that he had a clear out in the summer and
09:55then went back and changed the squad, changed the culture.
10:01And look what happened.
10:02So hopefully he can do that again.
10:04But the big question is, will Wagme let Scott have his say with the transfers in the summer?
10:10I wonder if that was part of the negotiation.
10:12I wonder how that will work out.
10:14Exactly.
10:15I'm hoping to speak to Scott Lindsay today and that's going to be one of my questions
10:20is has anything changed behind the scenes that has really instigated this disappointment?
10:28Are you going to have a bigger say in the transfers?
10:30Because I know he wasn't happy with when Liam Kelly, Danilo Orsi and all those players,
10:36Will Wright, all went during the summer and in the summer last year.
10:41So, yeah, it's a long term, it's one for the future and hopefully really stabilises
10:47Crawley as a top end of League Two, possibly League One side.
10:52Good stuff.
10:53Good stuff.
10:54So they face Bristol Rovers tomorrow at the Broadfield Stadium.
10:56That's going to be rocking, isn't it, at the Broadfield?
10:59Oh, it's going to be crazy because the last few times I've been to the ground on a match
11:03day, the fans have still been really good, but it hasn't been what it was.
11:10And that's understandable because fans react to results and performances and the performances
11:14and results haven't been that great recently.
11:16So the atmosphere hasn't matched or has matched what's been going on on the pitch.
11:22So I'm just looking forward to that moment when Scott Lindsay comes out and just comes
11:27out of the tunnel and claps the crowd like he did at the beginning of every game last
11:32season.
11:33I think it's going to be a bit of a hairs on the back of your neck moment kind of thing.
11:36And they will be singing his name and yeah, it is going to be crazy.
11:40I mean, I imagine they've sold a few more tickets as well for this game in the last
11:44couple of days because yes, I'm sure at home to Bristol Rovers, a real scrappy relegation
11:51battle when if Rob Elliott was still in charge, I'm sure nobody would have got that excited
11:56about it.
11:57But now I think everybody's just going to go there and just get behind Crawley Town
12:01and they're going to see a team fighting for everything and hopefully have a new manager
12:05bounce and they can just run right against Bristol Rovers.
12:08Good.
12:09Good.
12:10Well, well, it'd be an interesting, interesting watch tomorrow, but thanks.
12:14Thanks for watching everybody.
12:15You can read all the latest Crawley Town news at sussexworld.co.uk, including hopefully
12:19an interview with Scott Lindsay's first interview with Scott Lindsay since his reappointment
12:22coming very soon.
12:23But thanks for watching.
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