Who is Rob Elliot? All you need to know about the man who is set to take over at Crawley Town

Reds have been looking to make a quick appointment following Scott Lindsey’s departure to MK Dons. Ben Gladwin took over as interim head coach it looks like he will only have taken charge of two games – Saturday’s defeat to Bolton and Tuesday night’s game against Mansfield Town.

Elliot emerged as the early favourite with the bookies and it looks certain the 38-year-old will be named the new head coach today.

But who is Rob Elliot and what can we expect from him?

Born in London, the goalkeeper started his playing career with Erith Town, before joining Charlton Athletic's academy side.

He went on to play 96 games for Charlton and during his time there had spells at Bishop’s Stortford, Notts County and Accrington Stanley.

Elliot, nicknamed the Dilsh, then became Newcastle United’s seventh summer signing in 2011 and went on to make 55 appearances and played in the Europa League for them. Elliot was eligible for the Republic of Ireland through his father's family from Cork, and represented Ireland at under-19 level and went on to make four full appearances for the National side. He won his first international senior cap for the Republic of Ireland in 2014, in a 2–1 home loss to Turkey.

He then joined Watford before becoming Technical Director at Gateshead.

Following the departure of manager Mike Williamson to MK Dons, Elliot was appointed caretaker manager of Gateshead in October 2023, and he lead them to sixth but they could not compete in the play-offs because of issues with the tenure of their Stadium.

But he wrote his name into Gateshead folklore by lifting the FA Trophy for the first time in the club's history in May 2024.

He was named permanent manager in June 2024 alongside assistant manager Louis Story.

The Dilsh has been popular at Gateshead and plays a similar style of football to Mike Williamson, with quite a big emphasis on playing it out from the back and short passing.