'Magic wand' - Crawley Town boss says he will have to put key players 'in a trance' to help make them stay

After last season's League Two play-off win, Lindsey’s winning side was decimated in the summer, with seven members leaving in the two months after the final and Jay Williams and Ronan Darcy leaving in the January window.

With confirmation that Crawley Town will be playing in League Two next season, Lindsey admitted recruitment plans have already been put into place.

He said: “We've already started putting plans in place about the recruitment side of things and a lot of work needs to go in, to make sure that we have a squad of players that are capable of doing good things next year.

“When you look at the team now, it's not far away from what we want. We probably need to add a few more players and hopefully a few of them boys will stay.”

Lindsey added: “I'm desperate to keep some of them boys in there because I think that we'll be successful next season and I think that they've liked how it's been in these last nine games.

“I think they've enjoyed playing that style of football and I think they've enjoyed the way we’ve coached the team. I've tried to make it a happy environment and I think players have enjoyed coming into work and that's what I've tried to create, and hopefully some of the players will really buy into that and stay.”

It is highly likely that both Jeremy Kelly and Liam Fraser will be linked with moves away in the coming months, but Lindsey is hoping that he will be able to convince them to stay.

“They are two great players and we will have to work really hard to keep them both. Obviously we want them to stay, so it's down to me to try and convince them. I’m going to have to get my magic wand out and try to put them in a trance so they do stay.

“Both of them are becoming almost like Crawley legends now, with Jeremy [Kelly] from last year being part of that promotion winning team so we are desperate to keep them both.”