How Crawley Town fans could influence January transfer window

Crawley Town fans could have the chance to influence the club’s transfer strategy in the January Window.
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Co-chairman and owner Preston Johnson appeared on the Lower League Look podcast on Thursday (June 17) and was talking about WAGMI United’s strategies and plans to take Crawley Town up the leagues in the next few years.

WAGMI United, headed up by Americans Johnson and Eben Smith, took over the Reds on April 7 and since them have experienced a manger change, revolutionised season ticket prices and have changed the view of a lot of very sceptical fans.

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The groups slogan on their initial web homepage was ‘from crypto to the Premier League’ and their ‘mission statement’ was they “seek to reimagine how professional sports teams are owned and operated — building communities of passionate fans and empowering them to take a personal stake in telling their team’s story and shaping its future.”

They want to harness the power of Web3 to expand the club’s fanbase globally and open new revenue streams, likely selling NFTs that give “fans” influence over ways the club operates.

When asked about how the fans will influence them, Johnson revealed they would allow fans to vote on key decision and will set up a Fans’ Council which will also help guide decisions to how the club is run. And they want season ticket holders to hold as much weight as the NFT holders potentially, so everyone gets to decide together.

Johnson said: “You have to be realistic. We can’t just have people voting every week who the XI is. That doesn’t make sense. Kevin Betsy will make that decision and we are extremely confident in his process and how he wants to play.

Preston Johnson talking on the Lower League Look podcastPreston Johnson talking on the Lower League Look podcast
Preston Johnson talking on the Lower League Look podcast
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“We have these fan tokens socios and they allow you to vote on certain things. Sometimes it will be like Pepsi or Coca Cola, so if you are at your club supporting your team what would you rather be drinking?.

“We want to make them have access to decisions that actually impact to some degree the way we play or the players that are on the pitch. So adding to the fan experience at a more macro level.

“One example I am confident we will do, I can’t guarantee it just because it’s a bit further off, but just before the January transfer window we will see see where the club is at and we might go to fans here, we do a vote where should spend - we have this much allocated for the January transfer window, call it £300,000. Should it be on offense? Should it be with midfield or defence? Should it be a keeper?.

“We can have them vote on options we are ok with as an ownership and with Kevin comfortable with it.

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“It might be 50 per cent want a striker, because everyone wants to see goals. But if we are scoring the fourth most goals by giving up the fourth most goals, then we should probably put 67 per cent of the budget towards defence. But we will let the community decide.

“It’s something like that where they see they will have an actual impact on a decision that will help or hurt their club, the stakes are pretty high and that’s an intriguing proposition. That’s just one example. We are going to try and find some more over the course of each season they will have a really say rather than just on the fan experience.”

Since the takeover WAGMI United – and Johnson in particular – have been very open and transparent with fans about decisions they are making and have taken comments from the supporters on board which have influenced decision, such as season ticket prices. And when they appointed Kevin Betsy as the new manager, they when on Twittter spaces to explain the interview process and why they chose the former Arsenal u23s manager.

This is something Johnson wants to do more of and he said: “We want to put together a fan council. Once every week or two weeks and find the six or seven most influential Crawley Town fans who can make a difference.”

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