Crawley Town at Wembley
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00:00Despite hardships, Crawley Town have found themselves in their first ever playoff finals
00:08this season. However, it's not been easy for them, with a change of ownership causing
00:13controversy and a spell of managers coming and going from the club. It caused a lot of
00:18frustrations for fans and performances on the pitch from the Red Devils weren't helping
00:22either. And when Scott Lindsay was announced as manager of Crawley in January 2023, they
00:27were 21st in League 2, just two points above the relegation zone. And after steering them
00:33to safety that year, Lindsay made some big changes for the season, and it sure has changed
00:38their fortunes. They've defied the odds to get into the position they're in now, and
00:42this is what some of the fans had to say.
00:44I'm Ian, I've been a Crawley fan since 1997 when they moved to the broadfield. We go to
00:48most games, we're season ticket holders in the West Stand, and we were at MK on Saturday.
00:53We're in dreamland, absolute dreamland. I mean, couldn't even imagine being here this
00:57time last year. Needed relegated, needed a point at Hartlepool to stay up, and yeah,
01:03just unbelievable.
01:04It means a lot, you know, being around 128 years and having now the chance to come to
01:09Wembley when everyone ripped us off. Me, myself, when Scott Lindsay was appointed, I thought
01:15we probably should have stuck with Lewis Young because he was doing really well. But giving
01:19him time, he's proved to be one of the best managers we've ever had, and I think we deserve
01:25to be in League One with the way we've played the football, we play the style. Just the
01:30semi-final win against MK Dons just showed that we can mix it with the best that there
01:34is.
01:35Govering disarray, well not disarray, but they were playing terrible football. But watching
01:39them against MK Dons the other day, it was like watching a Barcelona game, you know,
01:44when Esther was in charge, when Esther was captain.
01:46He's just incredible. He's just brought in good team-ship, passing game, no long balls,
01:53everyone's up for it. Everyone on the field feels like they want to win every game, it's
01:57amazing.
01:58It's just great to see them knocking it around as well, not the way they knock it around
02:00and play football, it's amazing.
02:01And it's great for the town, right, so I think there was some rubbish stat that 150 away
02:05fans on average, but to be honest with you, we got what, 17,000 today? Unbelievable support,
02:11love it.
02:12And on that, I think the important thing is to bring it through for the kids, so the kids
02:16start supporting Crawley as their main club and not have it as their second club, because
02:20you need to build the fan base, especially as we're going into League One.
02:23I think it's special, especially because it was the first time the club's ever played
02:27to it, and considering that a lot of what some of the atmosphere around the club was
02:3212 months ago, just to get to this stage, I think it's just amazing, really, and I think
02:37it's just a testament to a lot of the work that's been done behind the scenes.
02:40Extremely happy. I can't believe we're actually here in Wembley, so, yeah.
02:46I'm looking forward to seeing how he's going to take it forward with the team. It's really
02:51lovely to come up on the train today, full of Crawley supporters, all on the same side,
02:57community-fied, cheering each other on, supporting all sorts, from children, families, groups
03:03of young men, groups of young women. It's really lovely to see a mixed-age group of
03:09people coming together.
03:10As the fans got into the stadium, the anticipation was prominent, and Crawley started off the
03:15game really well, and were able to dominate. And just before half-time in the 42nd minute,
03:20Crawley were able to make the attacks they had worthwhile with Danilo Orsi hitting one
03:24home. And right near the end, Crawley's Liam Kelly was able to get a goal in the 85th minute,
03:30and this is how much it meant to the supporters.
03:33What a great day for both of us. Brilliant, brilliant day for father and son to watch
03:47our team and our city, or town, to win this trophy. A great day, the greatest day of my
03:55life, I think, Wembley. Let's go to the Div 1 and see if we can do that next.
04:02We were favourites to go down, and now we've got to the play-off, and we've won it.
04:06There can't be any special day for this. Well done, the team, and our manager.
04:11After the trophy celebrations, Scott Lindsay sat down with the press and spoke to them
04:15about how proud he was.
04:17I'm really proud, really proud to lead this magnificent football club out of Wembley,
04:23first and foremost. There's no point coming here if you're not winning, you know. I said
04:28that to the players all week, you have to win, you have to win. They were unbelievable
04:34players, what a class. They have been all season, so I'm immensely proud.
04:40Goal-scorer on the day, Liam Kelly, was also happy to tell us how happy he was.
04:44It's not really sunk in yet, for me and all the boys. A bit surreal, every kid's dream
04:51really, to get promoted at Wembley, to win at Wembley, to score at Wembley. It's a surreal
04:57day.
04:57Crawley Town making it into League One for next season. Who knows where they'll end
05:01up, being tipped for relegation just at the start of this season for League Two.