Crawley Town, Steve Evans and the Season of Ill Will

A Post-Match Altercation

The floodlights at Broadfield Stadium were switched off while Gillingham’s players were still completing their post-match warm-down. This was the final act in a bad-tempered Boxing Day fixture that saw League Two leaders Crawley Town lose 2-1, their first league defeat since 13 September. The match had already seen Crawley’s Claude Davis dismissed in the first half and three supporters ejected from the ground, but the ill-feeling spilled over after the final whistle.

A row between the two managers, Crawley’s Steve Evans and Gillingham’s Andy Hessenthaler, led to the police being called. An allegation of racism was made by Evans against Hessenthaler. Sussex Police subsequently looked into the matter and advised Gillingham that they had closed their investigation and would be taking it no further. The comment in question may have been in regard to Evans being Scottish.

The incident caps a period where Evans’ gamesmanship and lack of good grace have become well-known in lower-division circles. For a manager with a one-year suspended jail sentence for tax evasion and a history of lengthy touchline bans for improper conduct, claiming to be the aggrieved party in a dispute over behaviour is a notable turn of events.

The Attendance Problem

The controversy provides an unwelcome backdrop to Crawley’s efforts to build a sustainable future. Last week, in an interview with The Crawley News, co-owner Susan Carter stated the club might need to start cutting its financial cloth if crowds did not increase. The club has been averaging just over 3,000 this season, but Carter believes they need to reach a higher figure. “If we are to sustain and build on what we have achieved we need to be getting it up to 4,500 as a minimum,” she said.

There is little to suggest this will happen with any regularity.

The Boxing Day attendance of 4,255, which included a sizeable travelling contingent from Gillingham, fell short of this target. If Crawley cannot hit that number for a Bank Holiday fixture with the team at the top of the table, the prospects of achieving it consistently seem slim. The club sits in a decent catchment area, with towns like Horsham, Redhill and East Grinstead nearby, but persuading fans to switch allegiance requires a compelling offer. While Evans delivers results on the pitch, his antics may be discouraging potential new supporters from attending.

A Director Named Evans

Any supporters wondering when Evans’ time at the club might be up may be waiting a long time. The manager appears to be more deeply embedded in the club’s structure than is typical. Prospect Estate Holdings was the company that previously owned Crawley Town, and Steve Evans was appointed as a director in July 2010. That directorship ended on 25 October 2011, but on the very same day another was registered at Companies House in the name of a John Evans. John is Steve Evans’ middle name. While this may be a coincidence, it suggests he is more closely involved in the actual management of the club than simply picking the team each week.

The pity is that Crawley Town supporters have to live with his behaviour. He keeps the club in the headlines, but seldom for positive reasons beyond the team’s performance. This might not bother the existing fanbase, but the club’s finances will be limited by a wage cap of 55 percent of their annual turnover. The most effective way to increase that turnover is to get more people through the gates.

There is no current suggestion of financial difficulty. A new stand is planned to increase the capacity of Broadfield Stadium to just under 6,000, so the infrastructure for growth is being put in place. The question for Crawley Town is whether it can continue to increase its crowds at the rate it has over the last three seasons. With Steve Evans as its public face, making the club more popular than it already is will be a significant challenge.