Former Crawley Town chairman is still 'critical' to club and 'private' director of football is 'crucial', says vice-chairman

Smith was co-chairman with Preston Johnson from when WAGMI took over Crawley in April 2022 but they both stood down following the Play-Off final win at Wembley in May.

Johnson made a quick u-turn, returning as chairman and that’s when WAGMI board member Ben Levin was named vice-chairman.

Johnson has been vocal about how important Smith was to Crawley’s success last season and Levin reiterated that on the CTSA’s Simply Redz podcast.

He said: “Eben stepped down as chairman, but he's still a member of the WAGMI board and he is active in the sense that he consults and advises Preston on a lot of the football matters.

“Eben is an exceptionally smart guy who has a really good grasp on the level of football we're playing at and how to recruit and build a squad.

“We wouldn't be where we are today without him so his involvement and the continuation of that thinking is critical. What it looks like in the long-term, we’re figuring it out day to day as he's not on the ground and Preston is.

“But he's a critical piece still and I think he and Preston and still talk quite frequently as an advisor.”

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Another person heavily involved with the day-to-day running of football operations at Crawley Town is director of football Tobias Phoenix.

The former Bolton man was consulting with the club before he was named director of football so has been involved most of the year, but fans have yet to get to know him.

Levin said he is a ‘private person’ so it is unlikely they will get to know him more but the vice-chairman says he is an important part of the Reds machine.

“There's a lot that goes in to running a football department and more than meets the eye, whether that is translating plans into action, with reaching out to players and agents, whether that is being another voice to understand what's going on at training and with players and be another eye on on tactics or on line ups, getting inside the players’ head a little bit and being around.

“Tobias is very involved and it's crucial to have someone like that on the ground which is also separate from ownership, with the way we operate. Preston doesn't often deal with agents for example, that's something that Tobias will handle.

“He's part of the brains trust in the support for the football organisation.”

You can listen to the full interview on the Simply Redz podcast here.