Crawley

Early years

Having played friendly matches from 1890, with the club's first match played on 22 November 1890 at home to Lingfield, Crawley Town were formed in 1896, and became founding members of the West Sussex Football League that year, joining the Junior Division. They remained in the West Sussex league for five years before transferring to the Mid-Sussex League, winning the League in only their second season. After disbanding at the end of the 1934–35 season, the club reformed in 1938 and joined Division Two of the Brighton, Hove & District League. They played in the Sussex County Emergency League in 1945–45, before returning to the Brighton, Hove & District League in 1946–47, becoming members of Division One.

They stayed at this level until they entered the Sussex County League in 1951 before switching again five years later to the Metropolitan League, which was a competition for both professional and amateur sides. In 1958, Crawley changed their name to Crawley Town. Town retained their amateur status and went on to win the Metropolitan League Challenge Cup in 1959.

Crawley turned semi-professional in 1962 and the following year they joined Division One of the Southern League. In 1969 they were promoted to Premier Division of the Southern League but the joy was short-lived as the following season they were relegated back to the first division where they remained until the 1983–84 season when they were promoted as runners-up.

Crawley's most successful cup run at the time was in the 1991–92 season when they reached the FA Cup third round proper and played local Brighton & Hove Albion, losing 5–0 in front of 18,301 at the Goldstone Ground.

In 1999, the club entered administration with debts estimated to be around £400,000. In October 1999, the club was bought by John Duly after a period of two months in administration, with Billy Smith appointed as manager. At the time, the Reds were second-bottom, but the club went on to finish in 12th place, six points above the relegation zone, at the end of this season various players from the first and reserve teams were released to try and free up finances, including John Sawyer, Jason Davy, Daniel Cullingham, Alex Barber and Jimmy Drew who all were part of a promising reserve team at the time finishing runner-up in the reserve league to Crystal Palace reserves. Whilst the 2000–01 season saw Town finish 11th, Crawley were much improved in a 2001–02 campaign which saw them finish fourth. This season saw the return of some of the previously released players as the administrators had now found new owners. Whilst Crawley finished seventh in 2002–03, the Reds found success in the 2003–04 season, when they ended their 20-season stay in the Premier Division of the Southern League by winning the division with 84 points, 12 points clear of second-placed Weymouth, and winning the Southern League Cup for the second successive season. The title was secured with four matches remaining with a 3–0 victory at Welling United, sparking celebrations from a large travelling contingent. Crawley would now be playing in the Football Conference, the highest level of non-League football, for the first time in their history.

Conference

A final position of 12th in their first season in the National Division was considered an impressive achievement for the club who finished as the highest-ranked part-time team in the country. Crawley also retained the Sussex Senior Cup by defeating Ringmer.

In 2005, the SA Group bought the club and made the decision to go full-time for the first time in the club's history. Although this was necessary in order to allow them to compete in the division, it led to the departure of several key players, including fans' favourite Charlie MacDonald and goalkeeper Andy Little, who were unable to give up their day jobs to play full-time.

The 2005–06 season didn't start well for Crawley as the club found themselves third from bottom and out of the FA Cup after a shock defeat to Braintree Town. Francis Vines was subsequently sacked and replaced by former Chelsea FC manager and player John Hollins and his assistant Alan Lewer. Things got worse for Crawley and as attendances dropped, so too did the club's income; the club's owners were forced to slash the players' and staff wages by 50% due to lack of funds. Several key players left the club, including captain Ian Simpemba, Simon Wormull and record signing Daryl Clare; it looked certain that relegation was on the cards. However five straight wins through March and April saw the club climb the table to 17th place and beat the drop by 10 points. The club was docked three points at the end of the season for breaching the annual playing budget but this had no effect on the final standings and Crawley's league status was safe. However, they later went into administration, with insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor placed in control of the club.