Thoughts of a lifelong fan: How small the margins between failure and success

“I wasn’t ready. That’s the bottom line. I was over-promoted and in at the deep end. In my first job in senior management, I found out what it was like to be in a high-profile, high-pressure leadership role for which I wasn’t properly prepared. It’s a mistake I still see being made today. And I was determined never to be in that position again” 

You’ve probably guessed that the words in the first paragraph of this week’s “Thoughts of a lifelong fan” are not the words of Colin Kazeem Richards, but the reason I have used them is to show how small the margins are between failure and success. The words can be found in “Dear England” and they were written by the man they named the avenue and the neighbourhood after. That’s not true, by the way, but they were written by someone who grew up in Crawley and went on to become England's most successful manager since Sir Alf, Gareth Southgate. 

He was writing about the time when he had just been sacked by Steve Gibson at Middlesbrough, and I just wanted to pass on a message of hope to CKR that I’m sure he will go on to make an impact somewhere in the future. For a start he could do a lot worse than reading “Dear England, Lessons in Leadership”. 

Anyway, as has been said on many occasions in the past, “the King is dead, long live the King!”, which means, I believe, that life goes on. For us who follow the real Red Devils, that means there are still 105 points to be fought over before the end of this season, of which we need to collect about half of them if we are to maintain our EFL status. Will it happen? I don’t know, but if I was in charge the first thing I would do or want to be able to do, is recall or at least have a look at players out on loan. In our case, Dan Cashman and Ben Radcliffe. Both appear to be well thought of by their “foster” clubs. Dan, started in our academy, when we had one, back when he was just a lad, before going to Brighton, Coventry, Rochdale and Worthing before returning to his hometown of Crawley but for some reason never really got a run of games under Lindsey or Richards and consequently has been on loan at Borehamwood this year, and will be until the end of the season unless Crawley inserted a "break clause" or "recall clause" when they finalized the loan deal in August 2026. Even then he will only be able to be recalled in the January transfer window. 

He appears to have been in excellent form for Boreham Wood, being used mainly as an impact substitute who, nevertheless, has scored 7 goals and made 2 assists in 16 appearances. In the last month alone, he scored 5 goals across 4 matches including back-to-back league goals off the bench against Altrincham and Sutton United, followed by two against Middlesbrough U21s in the National League Cup.  

Ben Radcliffe seems to be appreciated down in the west country as well, although his situation is different as he is only on loan until January and following getting a red card last Saturday will now be suspended for the next three games, all away and ending with an FA cup visit to Chesterfield before Yeovil play Borehamwood and Danny Cashman. Personally, I would like to see them both back here at Crawley, but only if it’s the right thing for all parties, Crawley, Danny and Ben. 

I hope Mr. Blackwell is aware of them, whether he hands over to someone else or earns a longer term stay with the club.      

In closing, I still think that as there are still double the points up for grabs that we need for survival that there is still a chance of us being in the EFL next season and although I can’t make Oldham on Saturday, I believe that is where the climb up the table will begin.