Marked for Adam Spencer
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Adam Spencer breaks a bone — 14 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Crawley Town — 7.32
1 for Dion Conroy, marked 7.32, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taylor Richards was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jacob Chapman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
No hiding place for Chris Sze
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chris Sze, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Timothy Collins on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Lewis Richards asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
21 days out for Adam Spencer after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Crawley Town will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match27 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Tranmere Rovers, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.76 on the card, and the Crawley Town support went home talking about one name.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Timothy Collins left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Jonny Russell
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad2 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Crawley Town lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
Adam Spencer breaks a bone — 29 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Taylor Richards falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Taylor Richards’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Crawley Town.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Finn Ashworth, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Taylor Richards at his very best
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Crawley Town.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Crawley Town
16 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Finn Ashworth is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Timothy Collins kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Crawley Town asked and Stoke City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Danilo Orsi commits to Crawley Town for another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Taylor Richards was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adam Spencer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Anthony Ross has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jack Palmer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Michael Carter has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Akin Odimayo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad10 Aug 2026
No place for Hugo Oviedo in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Crawley Town are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.