Crawley Town fixture release reaction with Scott Lindsey and Liam Kelly
Crawley Town found out their League One fixtures for the 2024/25 season this morning. The club held a breakfast for fans and manager Scott Lindsey and midfielder Liam Kelly were in attendance to give their thoughts
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00:00It's really nice to see such a good turnout, it's great to have you all here.
00:29Again, it's something we did very ad-hoc last season, was trying to get people together
00:35to release the fixtures.
00:37How last season ended up going, it was then a no-brainer for us to try and make it a little
00:42bit more formal and a little bit more of a process for today.
00:46We've got Scott here, Liam Kelly snuck in the room, so we'll try and speak to him a
00:53little bit later.
00:55First and foremost though, welcome back, I know it's been a quick summer, certainly
01:00for us, maybe for some supporters and sponsors in the room, the one-month summer that we've
01:06had has maybe dragged on a little bit longer, given the excitement of the new season.
01:12We may as well speak to Scott, as you're here to hear from him rather than me.
01:17How was the summer?
01:20Yeah, good, met a couple of holidays with my family, so yeah, really nice, really nice
01:28to have some time away from football.
01:31Having said that, I probably worked every day that I was away, in terms of phone calls
01:36and speaking to players and speaking to the owners and bits and pieces and actually watching
01:41players as well, sometimes in a hotel bar.
01:47So yeah, it's been busy, but it's been good, it's been enjoyable, it's been nice
01:49to spend a bit of time with my family.
01:52When you look back now on last season, and you stand here, again we stood here a year
01:57ago, completely different, you're standing next to the trophy from last season, you're
02:01preparing now for a different league, it's only been a month since all of that happened,
02:07do you feel like it's all happened now, are you still waiting, maybe when the players
02:10come back in it, when does it change for you and you're suddenly going, right bang, this
02:14has all happened, it's real, we enjoyed it and we're on to next season, you're probably
02:19going to say a minute after the full-time whistle went at Wembley, but I know there's
02:22certain people in the room that probably still feel a little bit surreal with the whole bubble
02:26of last season, particularly the May and the play-off bubble.
02:30Yeah I think today actually is the reset, because it's fixture release day, that's the
02:36day when you start now looking forward, I've spent five and a half weeks really reflecting
02:43on what we achieved, which is obviously promotion, so I'm really proud of that, and it's good
02:49to reflect, why shouldn't you, you put a lot of effort in, a lot of work goes in, and when
02:55you achieve something like this, I've been in football a long time, and times like what
03:01happened at Wembley doesn't come around very often, so it's important that we do really
03:05embrace that and reflect fondly on that, which I have done over the last five and a half
03:11weeks, but I think today now is the reset, fixture release day, it's time to now look
03:17forward, and what we've achieved, we've achieved, and we should be always proud of that, and
03:21we are, but now it's time to really look forward now and to prepare for what's going to be
03:26a really tough season in League One.
03:28I'm conscious we started a little bit late, so that's on me, so before your phones start
03:31pinging and stuff like that, we've got a little video just to run through some of the highlight
03:35fixtures, bank holiday games, opening day, Christmas and all sorts, so take a look at
03:40this and then we'll run through the fixture list in a bit more detail.
05:10Well that's a little bit of a taste, Scott, let's, before we go too in depth, and I don't
05:34want, I don't want, we've got to play every team twice, we've got to do all of that, no
05:39cliches, first and foremost we're at home on opening day, first time you see the fans
05:46properly in a competitive environment since Wembley, season ticket sales have been unbelievable,
05:52new sponsors unveiled, all that kind of stuff, and against one of the league's bigger clubs
05:58in Blackpool as well, so a really nice start to the season.
06:01Yeah exactly, I was really pleased with the first game actually because I wanted it to
06:06be at home, you know, we were at home last season and we had a real positive performance
06:10and result against Bradford, so yeah we've been good at home and of course I know we've
06:17been good away as well so, but yeah I'm really pleased with that first fixture, in fact,
06:22you know, listen, they're all hard games, every one of them, that you can't categorise
06:27them and start thinking about right we can do this and we can do that, every single game
06:32is really hard and I think if you start categorising them you're probably in the wrong sport,
06:36you know, you have to look at every game as if, we've got to prepare properly for
06:41every single game, we've gone up a division, there's some top, top teams in that division
06:45now and we've got to really focus and concentrate and prepare for every game like it is a cup
06:51final because they will be, but I'm actually really pleased that we're at home on that
06:55first game, no matter who it was against.
06:57So where do your eyes jump when you sit down and look at a fixture list, is it former clubs,
07:03you go back to Lincoln, is it ones where you're going, where we're getting the biggest crowds,
07:09what is it that stands out for you, I think people will look at that and go, we're going
07:12to places like, we're going to Birmingham on a bank holiday fixture, are they the ones
07:17that really excite you and stand out or have you got any sort of personal ones that you
07:20like as well?
07:22Not really, not so much, I think the first thing I look for is the first game obviously
07:25and then you kind of look down the list and you look at them that first two months really
07:31and understand whether you feel in your mind what you can achieve in them first two months.
07:37You always look at the Christmas period and then the next thing that I look for is have
07:43we got any long Tuesday nights, believe it or not, because…
07:46You're not happy about one are you?
07:49Well I just don't understand it, in fact I'm not happy about two.
07:54The exit again away from home, I don't understand the 29th December fixture anyway,
08:01years ago it used to always be Boxing Day and New Year's Day didn't it, now all of
08:05a sudden the EFL have thought within their wisdom to slide another game in between which
08:10is tough on the players, really tough on the players and I don't understand that fixture
08:16anyway but certainly don't understand exit away on that day, it's a long journey but
08:20it is what it is and the other one that I don't quite understand is a Saturday, January
08:26the 25th Stockport County away and then Tuesday the 28th Mansfield away, so we've got Stockport
08:34away up and down the country and then Mansfield away up and down the country.
08:38So I usually look where, and they normally do sling an away trip in on a Tuesday but
08:46as long as we're at home on the Saturday I'd be happy but we're not, we're away
08:50at Stockport so yeah I always look for that.
08:52That being said I know you're, they're very modern in your thinking of you looking
08:55after players, how are they spending their time, one thing they're going to be doing
08:59less of this season is travelling, I think the coach guys sitting on the right hand side
09:03will tell you it's about 1,000 miles less right this season, slightly more than 1,000
09:08I looked this morning, it's like driving from London to Barcelona so it's a lot of
09:12hours that the players are not going to be spending on travelling really, stuff like
09:17that must please you when it comes to, you're not now going to Barrow, Carlisle or the really
09:23long ones that I know you sometimes dread and you're spending hours and hours sitting
09:27on motorways.
09:28Yeah you know listen it's tough and people, I know there's a lot of people in here who
09:33work really hard and have got tough jobs I understand that, these lads you know they
09:38have to play and perform at an unbelievable rate, you know 90 minutes of sheer like running
09:44power and to be on a coach for four or five hours before and after that, it is tough you
09:49know and I'm not, you know I'm sure that some people in this room, if not all of you
09:53have got tough jobs and find it hard you know in your lives I understand that but these
09:57boys they work extremely hard throughout the day you know in their training and mentally
10:03as well it's tough you know mentally to turn up at stadiums where there's 5, 6,000
10:08people in if not more this season you know some places and to perform at a really high
10:14level it's tough mentally but certainly physically them long journeys have been hard
10:19and you know I remember Notts County away, we travelled on the day and you know I made
10:26reference to that in my press afterwards and I thought that was tough for us to do that
10:31but we had to do that because that's where we're at as a football club and I thought
10:35it was tough for us to travel on the day and play Notts County but you know that's kind
10:39of where we are but yeah I think it's hard but I am pleased that there isn't as much
10:44travelling this season definitely I'm sure the players will be but yeah I think and looking
10:50at the fixtures as well I think you know certainly in the first two months it kind of evened out
10:55quite well there's a couple of tough tough away journeys there as well but I think it's
10:59kind of evened out reasonably well you know there's not too many Wigan away quite early
11:04apart from that Burton away and then you know Wickham away is quite local, Reading away
11:09is quite local, Northampton is quite local so that first two months it's not too bad
11:14so yeah pleased. I think it's the obviously well documented that the size of some of the
11:19clubs in the division when you break down sort of how many recent years have been in
11:24the top flight and bits like that on a personal note is it you know how excited are you to get
11:30going and beat yourselves against other managers in a level up and to be going to the biggest
11:35stadiums and you know fingers crossed more games on on TV and small things like that
11:41that's got a yeah on a personal standpoint excite you for the new season? Yeah not so much
11:46personally but for the players I think it's important that the team are exposed to playing
11:50against good clubs you know big stadiums in front of big crowds I want my team to be exposed to that
11:56because I think you you find that we improve because of that you know and I think that's
12:01important that we do that from a personal note not bothered I couldn't care less you know really
12:07we play in the park as long as we play well and perform well and win but for the players it's
12:12great and you know I think that the players will really embrace that and I think we're the type of
12:17team as well with the way we play we we kind of you know puff our chests out and our shoulders
12:24back a little bit and we'll take on anybody you know that's the kind of environment that I've
12:29tried setting and the confidence that I've tried putting into the team and you know we'll back
12:35ourselves to go to some of these big clubs and perform and win you know we're not here to make
12:41the numbers up let me tell you. You mentioned also the appreciation for the fans that that work so
12:47hard that that kind of gear their week towards getting to wherever we are on on a Saturday
12:52when you do look at again the rewards of some of the away games in the league this season
12:58just the back end of last season it was our highest ever away crowd was at Sutton that was
13:03then broken we went to MK and then we had attendance records galore for us at Wembley
13:09how important can they be how key is it how much appreciation do the players have and they really
13:15can create a bit of an atmosphere and no doubt numbers next year will be as high as ever whether
13:19it's home whether it's away and there'll be a really good buzz. Yeah it's really important and
13:24I think today's great for the supporters as I was speaking to a few guys while I was getting the
13:28coffee and you know today's all about the supporters as well it's not just about me as a
13:33manager and the players to organize what we're going to do it's about the supporters to look
13:38down that list and plan what your what your year looks like you know what games you're going to go
13:43to what games you can't make what games you're going to come to at home I think it's fantastic
13:48for the supporters for this release day today and to really get to grips with what you're going to
13:53do and how it looks and listen it can massively help us I firmly believe that the support that
14:01we had last year has a real reasoning behind why we got promoted for sure you know you were the 12th
14:08man you were brilliant at home brilliant away every game you supported us even when we were rubbish
14:16um which wasn't very often mind um but swindling away I remember we were rubbish
14:22but you still clapped us off the pitch and we got beat was it six was it six or seven
14:31but you supported us brilliantly throughout the season so I'm really pleased that we're now in a
14:36division where you can really get to grips with going to some really good stadiums you know you
14:41look at some of these teams that are ridiculous you know Charlton Athletic, Birmingham City,
14:46Bolton Wanderers, Wigan you know some brilliant brilliant stadiums so it'd be great for the
14:51supporters to to embrace that and experience that. Now Scott's due to speak to Sky shortly
14:57so we'll let him crack on in a minute just just before you do and we try and get some words out
15:00of Liam Kelly um did you want to give a little bit of an insight now because you know again
15:07the players are back in Monday but you know we've got one pre-season game here against
15:11Crystal Palace again next season what does the next sort of six weeks kind of look like from
15:15from your perspective you enjoyed last season didn't you yeah you really enjoyed it when you
15:21look now at planning for for next season I think you're going to sit here and tell me you must
15:27have looked at where you're going to be playing Reading going back there is that something that
15:31that you you do look for you are you looking forward to going back to clubs you played for
15:36before and and again taking the the next step from where we were last season yeah um I think
15:42Reading was the one that I obviously looked for growing up there um but I think just generally
15:48having a new season in a new league um like the gaffer said playing against some top clubs
15:54um the likes of Bolton, Blackpool, Barnsley um it's exciting um but like the gaffer said we're
16:01going to the season fearing no one and yeah it's just something to look forward to
16:07and how was the summer is pre-season going to hit a few of the lads maybe a little bit harder than
16:13they think off the the back of uh some late celebrations um no it was a summer that we had
16:19to enjoy um what we did in the playoffs um you know you don't do it often so we had to enjoy it
16:27um probably drank a little bit more than we usually did but um now Rick the sports science
16:33guy has given us a good sort of uh off-season program to get our teeth into so we've been
16:39doing that now for two and a half weeks um so it'll be three weeks by the time we're back in
16:43on Monday um but yeah it's just the usual stuff that we're all used to uh we've all been in the
16:48game long enough to know what we're going to need by the time we come back so um no it was
16:53an enjoyable summer yeah