Travelling to Crawley is a road trip of 125 miles from Nailsworth that takes a little less than 2 and a half hours.  Car parking at the stadium costs £5 but there is a good amount of street parking nearby.  Post Code for SAT NAV: RH11 9RX

Supporters coaches leave Stonehouse at 09.40, Sainsburys 09.50 and TFCNL at 10.00.  Ring KB Coaches on 01453 825 774 between  8.30am and 5pm  Mondays to Fridays to book your place.  

Rail travel is possible via Paddington and Victoria stations and takes about 3 and a half hours.  The 17.44 from Crawley gets you back into Stroud at 20.55 (and there are a couple of later options).  The cost of an adult return is just over £60.  Crawley station is just over a mile from the ground or you can get a Fastway number 10 bus to the ground from by the station (this runs every ten minutes).  See if you can buy a bus ticket and train ticket combined from Stroud.

Admission prices are as follows;
East Stand: Adults £20, Concessions £15, Under 21’s £13, Under 18’s £10, Under 16’s £4, Under 11’s £1.  North Stand Terrace: Adults £16, Concessions £12, Under 21’s £11, Under 18’s £10, Under 16’s £4, Under 11’s £1.

Away supporters are in the North Stand (which is low roofed terrace) or seated in the East Stand in a section nearest the North Stand where the view of the action is pretty good.

The People's Pension Stadium

The People's Pension Stadium | Crawley Town FC | Football Ground Guide

The East Stand at Crawley.

Crawley Town FC: Broadfield Checkatrade.com Stadium Guide | English Grounds  | Football-Stadiums.co.uk

The North Stand at Crawley.

Crawley finished last season firmly mid-table, in 12th place (12 points behind Rovers).  But the Sussex side restricted Rovers to just 1 point in the 2 fixtures last season, winning 2-1 at The New Lawn followed by a goalless draw at The People’s Pension Stadium.

Crawley are in 15th place in the league with 40 points from 30 games.  They are 10 points away from the play-off places.  Crawley’s home form has perhaps been a weakness – they have 16 points from 14 home games.  They have tended to be more successful away from home so far.

The fixture between the sides in August was Rovers’ most dramatic home game this season.  Nicky Cadden scored in the 1st minute, cancelled out by a Jake Hassenthaler goal on 14 minutes.  Matty Stevens put Rovers ahead in the 24th minute, only for Hassenthaler to level again after 30 minutes.  The 2nd half saw goals from Jamille Matt, Jake Young and another 2 from Nicky Cadden, before Kwesi Appiah pulled a goal back in the 86th minute to leave the final score at 6-3.

Kwesi Appiah was a summer signing last summer and seems to be repaying the investment in him.  He is Crawley’s joint top scorer with 8 goals this season.  The Ghanaian international spent 5 years at Crystal Palace from 2012 before playing for a number of clubs including Reading, Cambridge, AFC Wimbledon & Viking Stavanger of Norway.  He played (and scored) for Ghana under Avram Grant in the African Cup of Nations.

Kwesi Appiah was signed by Crawley last summer and is their leading scorer.

Crawley’s manager, John Yems, has got something of an eye for footballing talent.  They discovered a star striker in the first half of last season in Max Watters.  Watters scoring form in League 2 was only outdone by Cambridge’s Paul Mullin.  This form prompted Cardiff City to pay £1 million for him in the January 2021 transfer window. 

In Watters absence, their number 9, Tom Nicholls stepped into the gap and seems to have done well.  Rovers fans may remember Nicholls.  His 2 goals at The New Lawn last season meant Crawley left Gloucestershire with all 3 points.  Nicholls scored in the 16th and 79th minutes, either side of a Jake Young goal on 50 minutes.  Nicholls is Crawley’s joint highest scorer this season with 8 goals.

Tom Nicholls, Crawley’s joint top scorer, scored 2 goals against Rovers last season.

A curious bit of Crawley news last season was the signing of ex-TOWIE star Mark Wright. 33 year old Wright played 9 games for Crawley in the 2006/07 season ion the National League and scored once but had always wanted to play for a club at EFL level, apparently.  Wright made a couple of appearances but was released at the end of last season.

Mark Wright in his ‘Strictly’ days!

Like FGR, Crawley are relative new-comers to the EFL. They achieved promotion to League 2 for the first time in 2011. They achieved promotion in their first season in League 2 and spent 3 seasons in League 1 before dropping back to League 2 in 2015.

 

Crawley have been ringing the managerial changes in recent years. Steve Evans (most recently the Gillingham manager) was in charge for 5 years until 2012. After this Crawley had 10 managers in about 8 years (including Dean Saunders and Harry Kewell) before appointing current boss, John Yems, in December 2019.  Yems doesn’t have any other EFL management experience but lives in Horsham (near Crawley) and is very much a local in the West Sussex area.

 

Rovers’ record against Crawley in the last few seasons has been fairly good – 5 wins and 3 draws and 1 loss in their nine encounters.

New Crawley Town FC Kit 2012-2013- Puma Crawley Town Home Away Shirts 12-13  | Football Kit News

Crawley’s mascot seems to have changed.  Let us know if anyone can throw light on the mystery.  Reggie the Red has either become fiercer or more ‘child-friendly’.  Which Reggie will be at the game?

Crawley Town are looking to make a new signing..... | West Sussex Gazette