Crawley Down part company with Francis Vines and appoint John Maggs as new manager

The vastly experienced Maggs will be at the helm for tomorrow’s crunch game in the Ryman League away to fellow strugglers Redhill.

Maggs made his name as goalkeeper, manager and chief executive of Crawley Town over a span of over 30 years.

He left Crawley Down Gatwick as manager last summer because he did not think the team could compete with a reduced budget.

This season he had a spell in charge at Hastings, agreed on a return last night, hours after the club had parted company with Francis Vines.

Vines failed to win a match after being named as Anvils manager in December, losing 12 games and drawing two.

The Anvils are second from bottom of the Ryman South and are in serious danger of relegation back to the County League.

Maggs said: “Time is against us because of the signing deadline being Monday but I will do everything in my power to get enough players in to see if we can get four or five wins which might keep us up.”

The former Crawley Town boss has departed in the wake of Wednesday’s 10-0 drubbing at leaders Peacehaven.

Vines has failed to win a game since being named as Anvils manager in December, losing 12 games and drawing two.