'Football is a feeling' - New Crawley Town boss highlights importance of fans ahead of crucial clash with Newport County

The newly appointed boss won his first game in charge of the Reds with a dramatic 2-0 win against Gillingham at the Broadfield Stadium last Saturday.

Kazim-Richards ran onto the pitch to celebrate Taylor Richards’ 91st-minute goal and led a passionate post-match huddle with his players on the pitch after Tobi Adeyemo had sealed victory with a second.

The 39-year-old enjoyed jubilant celebrations with the home fans, and his side will be backed by over 450 travelling supporters in South Wales this week.

Kazim-Richards said: “I think if you've seen my career in terms of being a player, it's always been [about] interaction with fans because football is emotional. A lot of people like to say it's not - it is.

“Football is emotional. Football is a feeling. It's how you make the fans feel. It's how you feel yourself. It's: ‘Do you feel comfortable today?’ OK - I don't feel the best, but I can't let my emotion stop the outcome that I'm looking for.

“Football is the emotional part, and I just think it's important to be genuine first but also show that you care.”

And on that post-match huddle, he added: “To be honest with you, that [the huddle] was all just natural. I've never thought about having a huddle on the pitch, or today I'm going to bring all the staff in and we're going to have a massive huddle on the pitch when we win and think of every detail like that.

“It was literally when I walked onto the pitch at the final whistle, I turned around and I saw everybody's facial expression, what it meant. It was like ‘everyone come in’. There was no time to go inside. This is where it is. This is our home. This is our house.

“And from this minute on, people are going to understand what it's going to take to come here and beat us, and we're going to show everybody out there that nobody's just going to come here and beat us. It was just genuine. I promise you, there was no thought into it before.”

Kazim-Richards is keen to make Saturday’s scenes a ‘regular occurrence’ at the Broadfield.

“That's what I'm aiming for,” he said. “There were a few things said after the game. I see everything. I watch everything. I'm a person that looks at everything because I'm very patient. I can read between the lines.

“I can hear between the lines in terms of when people say things and I can use that to our benefit. There were some things said after the game that I will be showing our players because you can use that as fuel.

“I'm a big believer in that. We can use that as fuel. And it's how you now react to that, and believe me, I saw some things and I love it - I really do.”

The club’s first-team players, led by captain Jay Williams, along with owner Raphael Khalili and backroom staff have subsidised coach travel for fans through official partners GH Coaches.

The 21st-placed Reds are hoping for a strong away following to take into battle in a season-defining game against the 22nd-placed Exiles – with implications for both clubs’ EFL futures.