Red Devils go marching on

WHILE ONE Red Devil crashed and burned in the FA Cup last weekend, one of their previous opponents, the Red Devils of Crawley Town, were celebrating in style. With still a few weeks to go before the end of the football season, Crawley Town have already secured the top spot in the Blue Square league and for the first time in their history, they will play in the English League proper next season. 

One local supporter who could barely contain his delight is Darren Lilley, managing director of Alamo International, a local Crawley lad, who this season sponsored the away shirts for the team. Such is his closeness to the club that, as a teenager, he was employed as a ‘brickie’ when the new stadium was being built and Alamo International have their UK Headquarters as one of the attached offices at the ground. 

Darrensaid “This has been an incredible year for us and the team. Never in our wildest dreams could we have thought of playing against Manchester United in the FA Cup and now promotion tops the cake. The manager has done a fantastic job and the players are already looking towards fighting for instant promotion in their first year in the league.” Confidence is high at Crawley and Darrenis hopeful that either this season or next, that a pre-season friendly might be arranged between Crawley Town and FC Torrevieja. 

FC Torrevieja might do well to look at the model of what Crawley have achieved in a short period of time, although Darrenis the first to admit that without a wealthy benefactor behind the team, as Crawley have, the chances of Torrevieja being able to emulate the Red Devils success is a non-starter. Darrenwanted to thank everyone around town for all the well wishes and has his fingers crossed that ‘his’ team will be playing locally sooner rather than later in Torrevieja. 

Keith Nicol