Football Season Guide

Crawley had a decent first season in the League One, as they looked capable of posting a promotion challenge for long periods, but eventually failed to land a top six finish, as their meteoric rise up the lower league ladder came to an end. Without doubt, one of the biggest reasons for their failure to collect more points was the dramatic loss of scoring touch suffered by their talisman Gary Alexander, who spent the majority of the second half of the season on loan at AFC Wimbledon, where he netted only three times in 18 games. For that reason, Crawley were always through to be likely to try and bring in a striker during the summer, but their financial situation is not as healthy as it was in the last few years. They have, to date, been unable to bring in a new "number nine" and will therefore once again have to rely on Alexander and Billy Clarke who, while impressive last season, also missed large chunks of action due to injury problems. Two solid signings have been made in Andy Drury and James Hurst, while no truly important players have left the club - the departure of Muzzy Dumbuya looks like a blow at first, but the fact is that the full-back has lost his regular starting place near the end of the previous season, and his place is likely to be taken by James Hurst in the new campaign. The biggest problem, without doubt, is the sheer number of players who left, as the Reds now have only 16 senior players on their book. Ritchie Barker will therefore be expected to be active on the loan market and strengthen the squad further.