Sidemen partnership will 'bring eyes to what Crawley is doing', says co-owner Hunter Orrell

Earlier today [Thursday, September 22] it was announced that the Reds and WAGMI United had announced a new partnership with the Sidemen – a social media collective with more than 130 million combined subscribers on YouTube – ahead of this Saturday’s 2022 Sidemen FC Charity Match at Charlton Athletic’s The Valley.

As part of the new partnership, Crawley scouts will be on hand at the match to evaluate participating players, potentially looking to recruit new talent to join the team in training and in the dugout for the Reds’ upcoming FA Cup first round match on Saturday, November 5.

The announcement elicited a passionate, and mostly negative, response from the Crawley Town fanbase on social media.

Orrell admitted that he empathised with Reds supporters who were desperate to see Crawley climb the League Two table – something he said WAGMI United and the club were ‘100 per cent focussed on’.

But the American stressed that the ownership group were committed to ‘trying to think outside the box’ in a bid to boost the Reds’ supporter base.

Orrell said: “I can have empathy for some of the reaction. I think at the same time, when it comes down to it, we’re trying to think outside the box and bring eyes to what Crawley is doing.

“Obviously, I think the biggest thing that fans want right now is for wins in the league. We’re still 100 per cent focussed on that.

“I just want to be very clear, that’s the number one concern. We’re just dead focussed on improving, getting the players’ mentality in the right way to play together, and to get three points on Saturday [away at Doncaster Rovers]. It [the announcement] is not going to affect the game at all.

“It’s been interesting. It’s been something in the back of our head – what would the fans say if we were number one [top of the league]?

“Obviously we’re not, so I have empathy with people who want a win.”