Football Season Review

Crawley Town endured a season of struggle under rookie head coach Gabriele Cioffi before eventually securing their Football League status for another season. The Red Devils had the rug pulled from under them less than a month into the new season after head coach Harry Kewell left to take over at struggling Notts County. Kewell’s star was in the ascendancy after an encouraging first season at the Broadfield Stadium. His departure was another blow having already lost loan striker Karlan Ahearne-Grant and winger Enzio Boldewijn during the summer. Captain Jimmy Smith was then ruled-out for the rest of the campaign with a knee injury and Cioffi inherited a squad full of promise but lacking in experience. It reflected the appointment of Cioffi, whose only previous experience in England was a coaching role at Birmingham City. He made a promising start and they briefly flirted with the play-offs before sliding down the table to eventually finish in 19th place. They won just five of their last 20 league matches and had to rely on goalkeeper Glenn Morris again, who was an ever-present between the sticks. Striker Ollie Palmer finished as leading scorer with 16 goals but burned his bridges with fans with derogatory comments about the club and is set to leave this summer. Cioffi is likely to find next season equally challenging, especially if he loses some of his more influential players.

Player of the Season: Glenn Morris