Football Season Guide

It’s a brand new era for Crawley Town following the takeover by Turkish businessman Ziya Eren in March. The Red Devils endured a dreadful 2014/15 campaign which ended in relegation from League One. Big name managers John Gregory and Dean Saunders were both unable to halt the slide down the table and they suffered their first relegation since 1970. Woes on the pitch were matched by those off it with a mystery far-east benefactor, eventually revealed to be businessman Paul Hayward, withdrawing his financial backing. Mark Yates was appointed as manager last summer and had the unenviable task of rebuilding almost an entire squad. He lost striker and leading goalscorer Izale McLeod and it was only the arrival of striker Rhys Murphy on loan from Oldham Athletic, with nine goals in 15 matches, and just one home league defeat between October and January which stopped them becoming embroiled in a relegation battle. A run of six straight defeats saw the end of Yates, who was sacked at the end of April and he was replaced by Dermot Drummy as head coach. He finds himself in the same boat at Yates with almost an entire squad to shape over the summer. Player of the season Gwion Edwards has left to join Peterborough United and Drummy has already brought in fifteen players during the close season, including a number of young players. The stand-out capture is striker James Collins from Shrewsbury Town whilst influence of Turkish ownership is clear in the arrivals of goalkeeper Yusuf Mersin, full-back Alper Tursin and midfielder Aryan Tajbakhsh. The Red Devils will be taking a step into the unknown for the 2016/17 season with Drummy and much of his squad facing a test of their credentials and they will be hoping to be looking up the table rather than down.