Walsall manager and former Crawley Town star reveals which 'incredible human' he is still in touch with from his Reds days

The current Walsall manager had two spells at Crawley, the first when he played 92 games between 2012 and 2014. The second was a loan spell from Rotherham United in 2014, where he played 10 games.

Sadler has impressed as a manager and is looking to claim an automatic promotion spot on the last day of the season this Saturday. They have to better Bradford City’s result to get the third promotion spot.

The 40-year-old recently sat down for an interview with SkyBet to talk about his days at Crawley Town. Firstly he spoke about about he reflects on his time there and how he took pride in being an ever-present player for two consecutive seasons, especially because that’s when Crawley achieved their highest-ever league finishes of 10th and 14th in League One.

“That was a very different club to what it is now,” he said. “At the time, the owner was from Birmingham, and he had backed the club financially well. He’d taken them from nowhere to where they were, and we had a very good team.

“The only unfortunate thing was there was an ownership change happening during that season. We all felt that, with just a little bit of a push in the right direction, it could’ve been an even better season than it ended up being.

“It was a strange start for me there, too. Sean O'Driscoll was the person who signed me, but after just 10 days of pre-season, he left to take the Nottingham Forest job. I’d literally only played one game under him. So that felt a bit unsettling. Then Richie Barker came in, and he was very good for me. He's gone on to have a brilliant career himself with Paul Warne.

“And honestly, the lifestyle down there was lovely. My wife – who became my wife while we were living there – absolutely loved it. It was such a different place to live. That’s something I look back on fondly from that time.”

That Crawley Town team was full of characters – and Sadler revealed which Reds legend he is still in touch with. “The one person I keep in touch with is a guy called Sergio Torres,” said Sadler. “He was probably the biggest character of them all. He’s still a cult hero at Crawley to this day. He had a random career, when you think about it – born and raised in Argentina, then somehow ending up playing for Crawley and a few other clubs.

“But honestly, he’s just an incredible human being. I don't get to see him anywhere near enough nowadays because he’s in Spain, but he's the kind of person you always want to be in touch with. Just an amazing person and the biggest character from my time there.”

And does Sadler, who also played for Birmingham, Watford and Walsall among others, still follow Crawley’s results? “I loved my time at Crawley [Town]. I’ll be honest, I probably look out for a couple of clubs a little more – Birmingham and a few others – just because I was at those places a bit longer. But Crawley is a wonderful club. It really is,” said Sadler.

“They punch above their weight season after season, and you have to commend them for that.”

For the odds on Saturday’s League Tow matches, visit https://m.skybet.com/football/sky-bet-league-two/10005382.

Walsall travel to Crewe for their crunch match while Bradford host Fleetwood.