Crawley Football Club was formed in 1896 and played its formative years in the West Sussex League. Crawley entered the Sussex County League in 1951, although they had played in an Emergency County League competition in 1945-46.

Four seasons in the Sussex County League First Division ended in relegation, but Crawley returned immediately as runners-up. Meanwhile, club officials had decided that the club’s future would be better served by playing in the Metropolitan League, a competition that catered for both professional and amateur sides. The compactness of the league meant that traveling costs were kept to a minimum. The Town suffix was added in 1958 but still retaining their amateur status, Crawley won the Metropolitan League Challenge Cup in 1959 and finished as runners-up to Worthing in the Sussex Senior Cup.

Crawley adopted professional status in 1962 and the following year they joined the Southern League. For the next 20 years Crawley played in the First Division in its various guises, apart from a brief taste of Premier Division football in 1969-70. In 1983-84 Crawley finished as runners-up to RS Southampton and returned to the Premier Division where they remained until finally winning promotion to the Conference in 2004.

In 1991/92 Crawley hit the headlines when they reached the FA Cup Third Round proper and enjoyed a money-spinning tie with Football League Third Division neighbours Brighton & Hove Albion at the now defunct Goldstone Ground. Although Crawley lost 5-0, they were far from disgraced and earned a bumper pay-day from a gate of 18,301. During that cup run they defeated league side Northampton Town at home 4-2 in the First Round proper.

In 1999, however the club was forced into Administration for two months with debts of £400,000. The club’s future was in serious doubt until local businessman John Duly stepped in with a rescue package and plan to take the club to the highest level of Non League football.

Season 2003/04 proved to be the most successful in the club’s history: winning the Southern League Premier Division for the first time and gaining promotion to the newly named Conference National, thereby establishing the Reds as the leading Non League club in Sussex. Despite being one of a dwindling number of part-time clubs in the Conference, Crawley nevertheless enjoyed an excellent season of consolidation, comfortably finishing in mid-table after flirting with play-off aspirations at one point.

It’s an old cliché, but what a difference a year makes.

Conference football had demanded even greater financial resources than Duly could support, and after a creditable first season amongst Non League’s elite The Reds’ owner decided to sell the club. In order to seriously compete with the Conference big boys the general consensus was that the playing staff needed to be full-time, and the mood of the majority of supporters when it was announced in July 2005 that Duly had found a suitable buyer, was one of general enthusiasm. Many fans expressed optimism for the future even though little was known of the buyers, other that they owned a few clubs and restaurants in the area.

The SA Group, headed by brothers Azwar and Shafqat ‘Chas’ Majeed, had paid Duly £570,000 for the club, payable in instalments, although Azwar (the younger of the two by six years) was officially the sole owner. With the promise of £2.2 million to be invested in the club over the next few years, supporters were generally euphoric that a buyer had been found with the necessary wherewithal to make Crawley Town a serious contender for The Football League.

On 3 March 2006, The Argus newspaper reported that the club was in financial crisis: the entire squad was up for sale and all employees had been told that they would have to take a fifty per cent wage cut. Worse was to follow a week later when it was revealed that Chas Majeed, described as both a Director in the match-day programme and Club Chairman on press releases, was in fact an undischarged bankrupt, having been declared insolvent at Brighton County Court in May 2004 and barred from running businesses. As well as it being a criminal offence, it was also against FA rules for anyone who had been the subject of a Bankruptcy Order to hold a position of power at a football club.

Azwar maintained that he was the sole owner, and had indeed passed an FA test to establish that he was a ‘fit and proper person’. Chas, he maintained, was simply an employee of the club. However, it later transpired that Azwar had also been involved in two companies forced into liquidation.

In June 2006, with debts in excess of £1.1 million and continuing to spiral, it was confirmed that the club had entered into Administration with its running to be managed by Begbies Traynor insolvency firm. Some £400,000 was still owed to Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise, players, former staff and other suppliers while the Majeeds themselves stated they were entitled to claim back figures of between £700,000 and £850,000 they claimed to have invested in the Club. The following month the Crawley Town Supporters’ Society Limited, known as “The Devils’ Trust” revealed that it was investigating all options for the future of the crisis-hit club – including a bid to buy it themselves, having received a number of substantial financial pledges; or in partnership, believing that the most secure future for the club when it emerged from its period of financial administration would be for the fans to be involved in its running at some level, and to oust the Majeed brothers in the process.

Season 2006/07 began with John Hollins in the managerial hot-seat, a 10 point deduction imposed by the Conference, and many supporters predicting that the club would not see out the season, let alone maintain a place in the Conference.

It would appear however, that miracles do happen. With the clubs finances continuing to generate as many column inches as performances on the pitch, it came as no great surprise when Hollins and Assistant Alan Lewer left the club at the end of October. With club captain Ben Judge and player David Woozley appointed joint caretaker managers; and former Millwall and Fulham Coach, John Yems appointed Coach, a rescue mission still looked most unlikely despite a tremendous start to the season that had surprised all the sceptics. However, survive they did and to finish in 18th place under the burden of a 10 point penalty was a fantastic achievement.

On 8 May 2007 it was announced that John Yems was leaving the club and that it was felt that a new permanent managerial appointment was in the bests interests of the club. The following week Vice President Victor Marley was unveiled as new Chairman of the Club. Marley had been involved with the club on and off in various capacities since 1998 and had taken over the reigns from Director Susan Todman who had been fulfilling the role since the resignation of Azwar Majid the previous August. On the same day it was announced that Judge and Woozley had signed new one year deals to remain as players.

If Marley’s appointment and retention of Judge and Woozley had been greeted with approval by Reds’ fans, the same could hardly be said of the club’s major announcement a fortnight later: the appointment of disgraced former Boston United boss Steve Evans as the new Crawley manager. It was certainly an appointment that raised a few eyebrows and given the recent history of the club, bound to prove controversial.

Whilst the official website made a point of highlighting Evans’ achievements as a manager, including Boston’s promotion to the Football League in 2002, comparatively little mention was made of the Pilgrims’ recent relegation and the fact that the club was now in Administration: something that many Boston fans felt Evans was largely responsible for. Also, that it was now known that nefarious dealings involving Evans had helped win Boston promotion unfairly at the expense of Dagenham & Redbridge.

Perhaps more significantly the official announcement made no mention of the fact that Evans was a convicted felon, serving a one year suspended sentence for tax evasion. Whilst Marley stated that Evans was an “exceptional candidate” and that his appointment heralded a “new era” for the club, many supporters and particularly those of The Devils’ Trust were less enthusiastic.

The Board of the Devils’ Trust noted Evans’ appointment “with dismay”, adding that it did not believe that appointing a manager who was banned from football for 20 months by the FA for paying a witness to mislead an FA inquiry could do anything but lower further the reputation of Crawley Town FC in the eyes of the football community.

The Trust added that its members had hoped that the appointment of Marley, very much associated with the former regime at Crawley, “might herald the return of honesty and integrity to the club” and that the announcement of Evans as the new manager had already undermined confidence in that belief. The Trust stated that it could not help but question why the owners would select Evans out of all potential candidates, and felt that the appointment would send out entirely the wrong signal to the football world at a time when the club was already under intense scrutiny.

It should be noted that the Devils' Trust does not necessarily reflect the view of all Crawley Town supporters, and has indeed not always been in line with the view of the official Supporters' Club. The Trust had stated that until a long-standing Creditors' Voluntary Agreement (CVA) that had forced a transfer embargo on Evans, was fulfilled and the club proven to be run in a manner satisfactory to the football authorities then no new chapter at the club could begin.

In early August 2007 it was announced that the club's obligations in that respect had been met and the embargo lifted, with Marley thanking Conference officials for their support in the Non League Paper. Ironically, just days later, the club was hit by a six-point deduction and £10,000 suspended fine by the League for financial irregularities, after being accused bringing the League into disrepute, and of having discrepancies in their annual playing budget, set by the Conference and based on income. Despite Crawley’s claims to the contrary, the club also failed to satisfy Conference officials that they had met the terms of the CVA. Conference Chairman Brian Lee was particularly scathing when quoted in the Argus newspaper: "We have bent over backwards to keep Crawley Town in the competition for a considerable period of time. They have been in two CVAs, been in administration and, quite frankly, have been treating the rules and regulations with total disregard for a long time".

It was the third time in as many seasons that Crawley had suffered a points deduction, with no less than nineteen deducted over a 16 month period. Whilst Marley claimed the latest charge was down to a  "technicality"; and Evans accused the League of having their own “agenda”, supporters could only shake their heads in exasperation once again. A spokesman for the Devils Trust, said: "It is a shambles. Once again the supporters have been let down with false promises and talk of new dawns”.

Description of ground
Crawley Town moved from their previous Town Mead home to the impressive Broadfield Stadium in 1997, following completion of the purpose-built £5 million ground that summer. Broadfield Stadium is undeniably one of the finest Non League grounds in the country, and was built, and is owned by Crawley Borough Council.

The first match to be played at Broadfield Stadium was a friendly against First Division Port Vale on 24 July 1997, and the new ground was officially opened on 19 October 1997 by the then Minister for Sport, Tony Banks MP.

The main stand along the near touchline has a capacity of 1,000 and is particularly impressive. The stand provides good access for disabled spectators, and also accomodates the changing rooms and a function room. The opposite side of the pitch is terraced, but uncovered, and sports a rather impressive electronic scoreboard. The ground has further covered terracing at either end. There is parking for around 400 vehicles.

Directions
From the North: Leave the M23 at Junction 11 and take the 4th exit off the roundabout. Broadfield Stadium can be found on the 1st exit of the following roundabout. From the South: Leave the A23 at Crawley and take the 1st exit off the roundabout. Broadfield Stadium can be found on the 1st exit of the following roundabout.

Nearest railway stations: Crawley (Bus service 'Fastway 10' from Stop A); Three Bridges (Bus service 'Fastway 20' from Stop C); Gatwick Airport (Follow the signs saying ‘local buses’ and catch either Fastway 10 or Fastway 20 in the direction of Broadfield/Bewbush)

Map (link to www.streetmap.co.uk)