It’s the end of the road for Colin Kazim-Richards – and Crawley Town have backed the club’s decision to make a change, with some saying it should have happened sooner.

Crawley Town parted ways with the manager after Tuesday night’s 3-2 defeat to Shrewsbury Town. Assistant Head Coach Julian Gray and Director of Football Erdem Konyar have also been relieved of their duties.

Crawley sit bottom of League Two, six points adrift of safety after 10 games, with only one win this season.

The club issued a statement in the early hours of Wednesday stating: “Crawley Town Football Club can confirm that Head Coach Colin Kazim-Richards and Assistant Head Coach Julian Gray have been relieved of their duties with immediate effect. Director of Football Erdem Konyar will also be leaving the club.

Colin Kazim-Richards' Crawley Town reign is over (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)

placeholder image — Colin Kazim-Richards' Crawley Town reign is over (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)

“The club would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Colin and Julian, who joined during a challenging period and played an important role in securing the club’s EFL status at the end of last season. We would also like to thank Erdem for his hard work and commitment since returning to the club last year.”

The decision for fire Kazim-Richards and Gray came as no surprise to Reds fans as comments on both X and Facebook show, with some evensaying he shouldn’t have got the job in the first place.

On the Crawley Observer Facebook page, David Oliver said: “It had to happen. The football has been dreadful to watch, too many players playing out of position and it showed on the pitch with young players looking totally lost throughout the games.

"It’s important now that we get the right manager in who has lots of experience in League Two and in League One football. It’s not going to be easy to find one and the coaching staff to. But the club must get this right this time round.”

Chris Sliney said: “We were happy to have Scott back when he kept us up but unfortunately the same thing happened. Thank goodness we haven’t done the normal and waited until 10 games before the end of the season.”

On Twitter (X), there was strong backing for the decision – with some criticism of the club too.

@danp_89 said “The correct call but it’s just a shame it was months too late. We need to stop being a ‘jobs for the boys’ football club and stop hiring friends / ex staff. We need fresh and new faces, with drive and determination. Most of all, we need experience and only experience coming in.”

@AdamM_NFL wrote “About time. This should have happened sooner but better late than never. Now get someone in with some experience. It’s needed!”

@jammygeez said: “Took so long. Should never have been appointed in the first place. Learn from past mistakes and bring in someone with experience.”

@willutrrr said: “Cheers Colin for Gillingham and Newport, but all due respect should’ve been one of those where we remembered him being the manager to keep us up and go out on that, we’ve got a mountain to climb but this roll of the dice is the least we can do.”

@stephen_dimmock had this to say “This should have been done after the Grimsby match but am glad both Colin and Erdem have gone now. Goes without saying the next appointment is absolutely critical, it is time we get someone in with a good amount of EFL experience.”