'Nothing changes' - Crawley Town boss committed to Reds despite being one of the favourites for Gillingham job following Neil Harris departure

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Crawley Town boss Scott Lindsey says he is fully committed to job he is in after being linked with the Gillingham job by the bookies.

The Gills parted company with Neil Harris today and within a couple of hours of the news Lindsey, who played for Gillingham ion the mid-90s, had been second favourite at 2/1 to become their next manager,

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The 51-year-old has done a brilliant job in turning fortunes around at the Broadfield Stadium. After guiding them to safety last season when they looked dead and buried, the Reds currently sit fifth in League Two, just three points off leaders Notts County. This has defied all predictions and odds at the start of the season who predicted Crawley would be relegated.

With the success so far this season, Lindsey will inevitably be linked with jobs – will it be hard for him to stayed focussed on the job in hand. “Not hard at all. I just focus on my job,” he told us in the Wrexham press conference. “That’s why I am in this job in my opinion because I am full focussed, I work extremely hard in the job I am in. I am committed to the job I am in. I won’t listen to anything outside. I am not on social media. I am single minded, I am headstrong and I know what I have got to do.

"I understand the industry, when you are doing well, club’s will show an interest and that’s a normal thing to happen. But I will just be focussed on what the job is at Crawley Town and keep performing the way we are performing and win as many games as we can.

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"I have said it from the off, we know inside the four walls of the dressing room what we can achieve. Just because I have been linked to another job, nothing changes. You just continue and focus on what the job is.”

Harris’ departure followed Mark Hughes parting company with Bradford City and Lindsey is well aware any manager is just a few bad results from being given the boot.

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Crawley Town was an early favourite at 2/1 for the Gillingham job. Picture: Eva GilbertCrawley Town was an early favourite at 2/1 for the Gillingham job. Picture: Eva Gilbert
Crawley Town was an early favourite at 2/1 for the Gillingham job. Picture: Eva Gilbert

He said: "I am fully aware what happens in football. If the results are not right, the wonders of that club make changes unfortunately. I think that’s the industry we are in.

“I am no different in many ways, you feel like every game you have to win, that’s the industry and if you don’t perform, well, there’s an old saying in management, ‘you are only ever five results from getting the sack’.

“It’s unfortunate for both Mark [Hughes] and Neil [Harris], they are both good people, I have always got on with both of them but I am sure you will see them both back in the game."

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And Lindsey doesn’t fear what might happen if results suddenly turn the other way for the Reds. "Because of what has happened in my life personally, nothing can ever be as bad as some of the situations I have found myself in. I lost my wife to cancer four years nearly, nothing can ever be as bad as that,” he said.

“You don’t ever want to lose your job, but it is a job. While we all want to be very successful, I certainly do, I am very driven, but at the end of the day, there are worse things that happened. We saw a a fan died in the crowd at Leyton Orient and the game got stopped and rightly so. Nothing is bigger than that.

“I am quite thick skinned and if I do go through a spell where I am under pressure, then I am under pressure, it’s no worse than what I have been through.”

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Crawley Town face Wrexham on Saturday before travelling to Sutton United on Tuesday night in the EFL Trophy. Their game with Morecambe on October 14 will be cancelled because of international call ups.

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