'Special' - Crawley Town boss looking forward to coming out to see the fans again when they face Bristol Rovers

Following Rob Elliot's departure, the 52-year-old returned to the Broadfield Stadium, where he enjoyed historic success with the club, giving them their first ever trip to Wembley.

And when it was announced Lindsey was returning, the majority of the reaction from Reds fans was hugely positive and couldn’t wait to see him back in charge.

‘The Messiah is returning’, ‘I could cry’, and ‘we are staying up’ were just a couple of the hundreds of messages fans put on social media.

Lindsey said he is not on social media and had not read the messages but he said: “I'm really grateful for the fans to look at me in that manner, in that light.

“It's nice and I look at them in the same light. They really respect me and I really respect them.

“Honestly, I think the fans here are amazing. They were fantastic last season and I firmly believe as well that the fans will help us this season, even if we don't manage to get what we need to get.

"I still think that they'll really back us and get behind us because that's what they are.”

Lindsey's start at Crawley when he joined in January 2023 was tough and he went on a losing streak early on. But Lindsey said: “I've never seen much negativity from the fans since I've been here.

“And there's times when there could have been, you know what I mean?

“I remember when I first came in that first season, I think we probably didn't win a game for six or seven if I remember correctly that first season. And then we went on a bit of a winning thing, didn't we?

“The fans stuck with me then and they're great. And listen, I want to do special things here again for this football club for the fans. Thanks for all the messages. I'm sorry I've not read them all.”

Lindsey always comes out and applauds the fans before each game and when he does it against Bristol Rovers in his first game in charge, it will be special.

"I’m so excited for that,” he said. “I was excited for that every game anyway, do you know what I mean?

“I love coming out the tunnel and applauding the crowd. I think it's special for any manager to do that. Some managers don't do that and miss out. I enjoy doing that.

“The fans are great and I understand how hard it is to live nowadays with food shopping and bills and stuff like that. To watch your team homing away up and down the country and to spend money through the turnstiles to watch the team play, I think it's special people to do that.

“I'm really looking forward to coming out and seeing them again. It'll be special to see them.

“Hopefully we'll be having a little bit of a celebration after the game as well and go back to the old fist pump again.”

Lindsey said he believes Crawley need to win six or seven of their last nine games to have a chance of staying up, and they start against Rovers, who are one of the teams Crawley can catch as they look for League One survival.

"We've got a big task in Bristol Rovers who are obviously fighting for their lives as well a little bit. So it's going to be a tough game,” said Lindsey.