Congratulations to Everyone at Crawley Town

Despite Tottenham losing 4-0 to Real Madrid I do have something to celebrate in the football world as Crawley Town have secured the Blue Square Premier Championship and in so doing also guaranteed their place in the Football League next year for the first time in their history. Not just that but Crawley now need just 3 wins to beat the highest points total ever in the Nationwide Conference (Currently 102) Obviously next year will be a tougher test for the reborn Crawley Town but the fact that it was in the end very comfortable (Winning with 5 games remaining) should take nothing away from the fans who have been there through all the hard times (Not just got interested after the Crawley- Man Utd game – in case your wondering I don’t include myself in either group as I maintain a consistent interest in Crawley Town which is well below the level of fan regardless of how they do.) Whatever is written about Crawley it should not at any point take away from the fact that they have had an impressive turn around, in fact their history has been quite remarkable ever since I started following them after moving to Crawley, First they won the last ever Southern League to enter the conference during the start of the big shake up of non league football, the first year they did really well but fell into mid table by the end of the season, this was followed by years of repeated financial instability which brought the club to the brink of extension on many occasions – in fact as I was a councillor on Crawley Council during this time I actually got to see at very close quarters how close this came, something many commentators do not seem to realise, now within a couple of seasons the team are heading to League 2, Next season may be a struggle, may be a season of mid table performances or it may be another blinding success as Crawley continue racing up the league pyramid the fact it is unknown, what we do know is that the Crawley Town are the best Non-League team in the country and that with a great squad and finally a stable management structure the future has never looked brighter for the red devils.

When will Crawley be a league team?

Waiting for the Champions League Quarter Final Draw starring Tottenham I thought I would spend five minutes running some calculations on Crawley Town and their push for League Status. Crawley currently sit top of the Blue Square Premier with 77 pts ahead of AFC Wimbledon with 71 but having played 5 less games and facing them on Friday night at home so things are looking very good, what I have decided to look at however is when Crawley can have the title wrapped up. With Crawley, Wimbledon and Luton (Currently in 4th) having 12, 8 and 11 games remaining respectively they each have a maximum possible points score this season of:
Crawley Town 113 (Previous Highest is 101 Aldershot 07/08 Season)
Luton Town 102 (Hence why I have included them in analysis)
AFC Wimbledon 95

Obviously anything can happen in football and so far all Crawley are guaranteed is to finish above 9th but that would take not just a catastrophic loss of form but also an incredibly unlikely turn of events that would see the worst case scenario coming up for Crawley in every match. But onto more optimistic matters.
Going forward if things go Crawley’s way then the following scenario can see the title (and by extension promotion) being secured in two weeks time.
Crawley are playing 5 games in the next two weeks (Actually 2 weeks and 2 days)
Home – AFC Wimbledon
Away – Eastbourne
Away - Gateshead
Home – Mansfield
Home – Darlington
Obviously a very challenging schedule however if they win all the games they will sit on 92 Points with only AFC Wimbledon (92), Luton (102) and Wrexham (93) able to beat them and AFC only on GD.
Wrexham’s next game is away to Fleetwood Town which is not an easy fixture but all they need is one loss from their 4 games in the next two weeks and their maximum will be 91, If AFC Wimbledon drop a single point (Assuming they lose to Crawley Tomorrow Night ) they will also be mathematically prevented from beating Crawley.
The least likely turn of events however is that for Crawley to wrap up the title on the 2nd April Luton will need to lose all 4 of their matches between now and then which is more of a stretch than Wrexham and Wimbledon losing one, or for my money Crawley winning the next five.
If Luton and Crawley both continue to win however then the title could instead be clinched 10 days later on the 12th April when Crawley Host Luton, perhaps this would be a better turn of events as it would make that one hell of a match.

A night of good results

As if Tottenham topping the group was not good enough Last night was also the night that Crawley Town booked their place in the Third Round thanks to two goals by Smith and an Own goal seeing off ten man Swindon in the Second round replay.

Crawley went 1-0 up thanks to Smith before finding themselves pegged back to 2-1 by the League opposition who were then reduced to ten men before an unfortunate own goal forced Extra Time, it was not until 28 minutes into the extra half hour that Smith struck again sending the Blue Square premier outfit through for the first time in their history.

So now they march onwards, however Championship Derby who will be visiting the Broadfield on the 8th January will be a different prospect altogether, but now is a time for celebration.