From relegation to Wembley: Crawley town’s underdog story
Crawley Town produced one of the most incredible underdog stories in EFL history, with the club being promoted after almost getting relegated the season before.
Embed from Getty ImagesCrawley Town celebrating their triumph at Wembley. (Photo by Paul Harding/Getty Images)
In May 2023, Crawley Town survived relegation to the National League by the skin of their teeth. They were the massive favourites to get relegated the next season by many fans, pundits, and the bookies. Despite this, Crawley manager Scott Lindsey guided the Reds to a famous promotion, via their first trip to Wembley. In a season of ups and downs, here is how Crawley achieved this underdog feet in one of the toughest leagues in the world.
How Crawley Town went from favourites for relegation to being promoted to League One.
Crawley Town went into the 23/24 season in a bad way. Just surviving relegation the year before in dramatic fashion, their team was overhauled by Lindsey, utilising a data system that would prove to be highly successful long term.
A surprisingly good start to the season saw Crawley collect seven points from their first three games, putting them in the top three. A couple of weeks later, back-to-back defeats including a 6-0 hammering away to Swindon Town made League Two observers predict that Crawley’s fast start was a fluke.
James Russo, member of Crawley town Supporters Association, said: “I didn’t expect that we were going to end up top of the league or to have the best of runs. It was going to happen at some point [drop off in form] and it was good that it happened early so Scott Lindsey can regroup and that’s what he did from there on.”
Broadfield Stadium, the home of Crawley Town.
Following this Crawley went on a run of inconsistent form. Five consecutive wins was followed by seven games without a victory. It would continue like this for much of the season, leaving Crawley around mid-table. They were in touching distance of the playoffs, but could not quite get there.
There was speculation that Crawley were feeling the heat, and letting the pressure get to them. Republic of Ireland midfielder Liam Kelly dismissed these claims in the run-in, as he said: “No probably not. We’ve been seventh spot and it’s been in our hands but now being eighth and not being in our hands with other results needed is quite simple. We just got to go out there and win and hopefully that’s what we can do.”
Then, after picking up 10/15 points in March, Crawley were back in the hunt for playoff football. They would beat a high-flying Mansfield 4-1 away from home, before only managing two points from four games before their last game of the season against Grimsby Town.
Crawley’s opponents had got out of any threat of relegation and had nothing to play for. Reds defender Laurence Maguire knew that they could not get complacent, as he said: “It’s tough because you never know what type of game it’s going to be like. You’ve just got to play your own game. We’ve had a good session out there today; the managers put a lot of principles and a lot of tactics into us. We are fully concentrated on ourselves and hopefully, we can get the three points.”
The Reds had to not just rely on themselves winning, but teams around them dropping points. The unlikely scenario occurred after Crawley snuck into seventh spot with a 2-0 home win over Grimsby. They were fortunate enough for teams around them to drop points, which set up a two-legged game against MK Dons. Before that, there was jubilant scenes around Broadfield Stadium with a pitch invasion having occurred.
After Crawley Town beat Grimsby Town 2-0, fans flooded the pitch in celebration of achieving playoff football.
“It was buzzing and bouncing,” Russo said. “One of the top 10 days as a Crawley town football fan to get into a football league playoff. It was buzzing around the ground; people you didn’t know you were talking to them as if you knew them forever.”
It was back to serious business for the Reds following this with the playoff semi-finals. MK Dons were a strong team who were not to be underestimated but had failed to win consecutive games since the start of March, giving the Reds hope.
There were nerves before the game, but this turned into excitement after Crawley went into the break 2-0 up thanks to goals from Kelly and Jay Williams. Fan-favourite Ronan Darcy would add a third in the second half, to complete what would be the first half of a record-breaking playoff tie for the Reds.
In Milton Keynes, Crawley went berserk. All hopes of a comeback were eradicated two minutes in when Williams fired in from close range. Danilo Orsi grabbed his first goal before MK Dons grabbed one back before half-time. The star striker went on to score two more in the second half to complete his hat-trick. A Jack Roles strike finished the game 5-1 to Crawley, with the Reds going through winning 8-1 on aggregate. This score marked a record aggregate scoreline in a playoff game.
Crawly Town would make it to Wembley for the first time ever, in the biggest game in their existence.
Embed from Getty ImagesCrawley Town celebrate an 8-1 aggregate victory over MK Dons, putting them through to the playoff final at Wembley (Photo by Harriet Lander/Getty Images)
On getting to Wembley, Russo said: “The whole town was buzzing. There was constant talk in the pub, at work, in the town centres. The build up; I couldn’t think of nothing else. Everyday I woke up I was thinking when we were going to Wembley.”
In the final, they would face Crewe Alexandra. They knocked out Doncaster Rovers in the semi-finals, who were the favourites to get promoted. 19,000 fans would make the short trip to London to witness their club make history. Orsi fired in his 25th goal of the season in the first half, before Kelly doubled their lead late in the second half.
Crawley had done it. A 2-0 win saw them book their place in League One for the 24/25 campaign. Quite the contrast of what was expected of them at the start of the season. This has led them to play against big, former Premier League teams like Birmingham, Bolton, Huddersfield, Charlton, and Wrexham to name a few. Despite not going the way they would have hoped this season, they would always have the memories of what happened on 19th May 2024.