First full interview with returning Crawley Town manager Scott Lindsey
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00:00Scott, welcome back to Crawley Town. How does it feel to be back here?
00:05Yeah, delighted, thank you. Really pleased. Just feels like home to me, you know.
00:11Yeah, really pleased to get it done and get in and get to work, you know.
00:19Like I say, it feels like home to me. I know the affiliation I've got with fans here
00:23and obviously the backroom staff, the owners, you know, players.
00:32So, yeah, it feels like home really. It feels like I've only been away a few months, which I actually have.
00:38Yeah, and that makes it a whole lot easier than going to a club that you know you've got straight back into it with training today.
00:45It just makes the whole process easier, doesn't it?
00:46Yeah, it feels like I've never been away, I've got to be honest with you.
00:49Just familiarising myself with obviously the players I don't know, but yeah, it feels like I've never been away.
00:55I just had a really good feel about it today. I've enjoyed it.
01:00You wouldn't know the team are down the bottom of the division. You really wouldn't know.
01:05Not with my experience of today anyway.
01:08So, yeah, I'm delighted to be here and we know that there's a big task in front of us now, which is achievable,
01:17but we know it's going to be tough.
01:18Yeah, you really think it is achievable, yeah?
01:20Of course it is.
01:21Yeah.
01:22Are you going to use the law of attraction again?
01:24Listen, if I didn't think it was achievable, well, all the time it is achievable. It's achievable.
01:31Do you know what I mean?
01:32Yeah.
01:33The minute it's not, it's not.
01:34Yeah.
01:35And that's it.
01:36You know, we're probably looking at the nine games. We maybe need to win six, if not maybe seven, right?
01:41Which we've only won seven all season, so straight away you think, oh, that's hard.
01:44That's what we're supposed to do.
01:46Yeah.
01:47We need to win football matches, right?
01:48So, come on, we can do it.
01:51Will we do it?
01:52Who knows?
01:53Who knows?
01:54I've got to instil a belief in the players to believe we can, because I believe we can.
02:01I've said it all along.
02:03Everything's achievable.
02:04We did unthinkable things last season, right?
02:08That was tough.
02:10So, listen, this is it now and we know what we've got to do.
02:14We've just got to do it.
02:16Will we do it?
02:17I don't know.
02:18I really don't know, but we will be trying so hard to make that happen.
02:20Yeah, will you be using the law of attraction?
02:22Because you talked about that a lot last year, didn't you?
02:24Listen, the law of attraction is to make people believe that the goal is certainly achievable to get there.
02:35Yeah.
02:36And sometimes the law of attraction has to be where you talk about it a lot.
02:41I haven't got a lot of time to do that.
02:43I guess we've only got whatever it is now, six, seven weeks, whatever it is, left of the season.
02:49But to talk about our goals and talk about our pathway to them goals on a regular basis
02:56and trying to get the players to believe in themselves a bit more than they are doing at the moment.
03:02Yeah.
03:03I, for one, already said famously that I'd leave my hat if you came back here.
03:08Somebody else has said they'd get a tattoo of Preston Johnson's beard on their leg if you came back.
03:13So we're looking forward to that.
03:15How did the move come about? Because it does seem a little bit unexpected.
03:18Well, first of all, I'm out of work.
03:24I've been out of work for not far off three weeks now.
03:30I spoke to another club in League One.
03:34I spoke to a club in League Two.
03:38And then obviously Crawley had been in touch with me once they parted company with the manager.
03:48So it was a process that happened fairly quickly.
03:56And I had to make a decision.
04:00And it was an easy decision in my opinion.
04:04And people say never go back to where you were successful.
04:09But I just don't read into any of that.
04:12I just feel at home here.
04:14I love this club.
04:15And what I did last year will probably be in my memory forever.
04:24What we achieved as a club was just amazing, wasn't it?
04:27The fans loved it.
04:29The amount of people that went to Wembley.
04:31Just the feeling and what we achieved.
04:34My family certainly wanted me to come back here.
04:37They were like, no, we've got to go to Crawley.
04:39We've got to go to Crawley.
04:40That's so important to us as a family.
04:42Because of how they remembered the time here.
04:45And how welcoming the staff and people here made my family feel welcome.
04:51And we just feel that this feels like home to us, you know.
04:54So yeah, I did have other offers.
04:57But yeah, it just feels right, you know.
05:02The reaction has been incredible.
05:04Really positive from the fans.
05:05Obviously you've seen words like Messiah is coming back.
05:08I can try.
05:09We're staying up now, etc.
05:11Obviously it's great to get that reaction.
05:13Does that add a little bit of extra pressure to it?
05:15Or do you not feel that?
05:16I don't.
05:17If I'm honest with you, I'm not on any social media platforms myself.
05:20So it wasn't actually officially all agreed until probably past nine o'clock last night.
05:31If I'm honest with you.
05:32And it was a case, can you come down to the ground tonight?
05:35I was like, yeah, whatever needs to be done, I'm happy to do that, you know.
05:39So we drove down last night and done some press and bits and pieces.
05:47Signed the contract, all that sort of stuff.
05:48So it happened really late.
05:50And at the time I'd kind of got all the bits and pieces done like that.
05:54I was off to the hotel.
05:56I think really kind of planning on training today and getting my head into that
06:01and how this next game looks.
06:03And I didn't really have time to read anything or see anything.
06:08But I'm sure that the messages are wonderful.
06:10And I'm really grateful for that.
06:12I'm really grateful for the fans to look at me in that manner, in that light.
06:16It's nice, you know.
06:17But I look at them in the same light.
06:19They really respect me and I really respect them.
06:23And honestly, I think the fans here, as you know, I think they're amazing.
06:28They were fantastic last season.
06:31And I firmly believe as well that the fans will help us this season,
06:38even if we don't manage to get what we need to get.
06:41I still think that they'll really back us and get behind us
06:43because that's what they are.
06:44I've never seen much negativity from the fans since I've been here.
06:48And there's times when there could have been, you know what I mean?
06:50I remember when I first came in that first season,
06:52I think we probably didn't win a game for six or seven,
06:55if I remember that first season, do you know what I mean?
06:57And then we went on a bit of a winning thing, didn't we?
06:59The fans stuck with me then and they're great.
07:03And listen, I want to do special things here again for this football club,
07:09for the fans, you know.
07:11So, yes, thanks for all the messages.
07:14Yes, I'm sorry I've not read them all.
07:16That's all right.
07:17Obviously, tomorrow you're going to see them all, a lot of familiar faces.
07:21Hopefully, at the end, you'll get to celebrate with them like you did.
07:24That'd be great.
07:25How much are you looking forward to that moment?
07:26Just walking out at the beginning of the game?
07:28Yes, so excited for that.
07:29So excited for that.
07:31I was excited for that every game anyway, do you know what I mean?
07:34Before I left.
07:35I love coming out the tunnel and applauding the crowd.
07:39I think it's special for any manager to do that.
07:41And some managers don't do that and miss out, I think.
07:44I think they do miss out by not doing it.
07:46And I enjoy doing that.
07:47The fans are great and I understand how hard it is to live nowadays
07:51with food shopping and bills and stuff like that.
07:54And to watch your team homing away up and down the country
07:58and to spend money through the turnstiles to watch the team play.
08:03I think it's special anyway.
08:04I think it's special people to do that.
08:08And yes, I'm really looking forward to coming out and seeing them again.
08:11It'll be special to see them.
08:13I'm really looking forward to that.
08:15And like you say, hopefully we'll be having a little bit of a celebration
08:18after the game as well and go back to the old fist pump again.
08:22So we'll see.
08:23Let's see.
08:24Listen, we've got a big task in Bristol Rovers who are obviously
08:28fighting for their lives as well a little bit.
08:30So it's going to be a tough game.
08:31Yes, there has been a little bit of fractiousness,
08:34if that's the word, between the fans and the owners again.
08:38I imagine a lot of that's results-based because it hasn't been an enjoyable season.
08:42Do you feel you've got a responsibility to try and build a bridge again?
08:45Yes, I think so.
08:46I think that.
08:47Listen, rule number one as a football manager is you win games of football.
08:50And then it kind of makes everybody a little bit happier, doesn't it?
08:53You know what I mean?
08:54And I think when you're not winning games of football,
08:56people get frustrated with things they probably wouldn't normally get frustrated with.
09:00So, yes, I think this.
09:04I think that we need to really remain connected.
09:09That's important to me that the fans really support the team, which they do.
09:17The players really give the fans something to cheer about,
09:21which they've got to work hard.
09:23They've got to do the right things and make the right decisions at the right time
09:28and play with confidence and all those sort of things that we talk about,
09:31about footballers and football teams.
09:33I've got to make sure that I get my tactics as spot on as I can get them.
09:37Sometimes I will make mistakes.
09:39I'm a human being.
09:41We stay connected and the owners are part of that.
09:44You know what I mean?
09:45They're a big part of that.
09:46So we need to bring everybody together, or I have to.
09:49And listen, let me say this to you.
09:52Last year, when we won promotion, it felt like a connected club, right?
09:58Didn't it?
09:59And didn't that feel great?
10:01Do you know what I mean?
10:02So let's try that again.
10:03Because it doesn't feel great when the fans are having to go to the owners
10:08and so on and so forth, and the players are not performing
10:12and this is wrong and that's wrong.
10:14It doesn't feel great.
10:15So it's important that we draw the strings in and bring it all back to how it was last year.
10:21That can happen really easily when you're winning games of football, obviously.
10:24Do you know what I mean?
10:26Everyone becomes happy because of that.
10:27That might not be the case at the moment.
10:30Do you know what I mean?
10:31Because of where we are.
10:32I need to make sure that we do that, obviously.
10:34Will we do it?
10:35Remains to be seen.
10:36But it's important that we, like I say, draw the strings in
10:40and really try and become one team again.
10:43That's why we became so successful last year.
10:45I felt, in all my years of being in football, which is pretty much all my life,
10:52this is probably the first time I've known a club to be really together.
10:56Really together.
10:57I felt that last year.
10:59It's important we get back to that quickly.
11:01Talking to the players, I saw a great video of you hugging Jeremy Kelly this morning
11:06when you met up again.
11:08How did the players welcome you and how do you see the squad compared to how you left it in October?
11:14It's a really good question.
11:15It's amazing to see some of the guys that I've worked with before.
11:20Jeremy Kelly is just so good, isn't he?
11:22He is, yes.
11:24It's great to see him today.
11:26Listen, some of them players who played for me last year were fantastic
11:31and they have carried on that as well.
11:33I've probably not got the results that maybe a lot of the games would have given them
11:41had they played in a successful season.
11:47I think there's still been good performances from what I've seen.
11:50I think there's been a lack of belief probably.
11:53But yes, great.
11:55Great to see the guys.
11:57And great to see the new players and meet the new players as well.
12:00I think that's important that I build relationships with them really quickly.
12:04How do I see the squad from when I left?
12:07I think stronger now than probably when I left.
12:10The truth be known.
12:14I think there's some good players, some really good players.
12:21Yes, I think the squad's okay.
12:24I know the league table won't suggest that.
12:26Yes, I just believe so.
12:28I do honestly think that.
12:30And that's down to me to try and build that quickly.
12:33We may run out of time with it, but we can have a go.
12:37I don't want to linger in the past, but when you look at when you left in October,
12:41do you look back and see that as a mistake or is it no regrets?
12:45No, I don't see it as a mistake.
12:47I see it as a big learning period for me.
12:52I had my reasons why I left, which I don't really want to discuss now
12:56because I feel that that's in the past now.
13:01I felt it was the right thing for me at the time.
13:06Was it the right thing in the long run?
13:09Probably not, but I think that I'm a better manager for it.
13:12I think I've reflected really well on my experience at MK,
13:17which I think is going to make me a better manager moving forward.
13:20So, box ticked.
13:23It was the right thing for me to do at the right time.
13:26Did it work out? No.
13:29But it's probably made me a better manager.
13:32And we won't be seeing the familiar face of Jamie Day as your assistant next year.
13:37You've got Neil Smith in. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
13:40Yes, Neil Smith. Listen, Jamie Day is still at MK Dons.
13:44He's still contracted to them, so we can't just take him, do you know what I mean?
13:50No.
13:52And one day maybe Jamie comes back and we'll have to wait and see regarding that.
13:58At the moment, he's contracted to MK Dons.
14:04A new manager might come in there and work with him.
14:07That's just football, you know what I mean?
14:10So, I can't do anything about that.
14:12Would I like Jamie Day to come and work with me again? 100%.
14:18So, Neil Smith is somebody that I've known for a long, long time.
14:22I played with Neil back in the mid-90s.
14:27I think I signed for Gillingham.
14:30Smudgy was there as a player and a great player as well, by the way.
14:33He had a really good career, a strong career.
14:36And then, obviously, he went into coaching himself as a manager at Bromley.
14:42So, he's kind of done the managerial stuff.
14:46He's just a brilliant, brilliant person.
14:48What I mean by that is, all you'll hear is him laughing around the corridors
14:53and just real positive energy about him.
14:58The players will really like him and he's great.
15:00The way he speaks, the way he holds himself.
15:02And, of course, he knows the game.
15:05So, yes, I'm really pleased to get Smudgy on board.
15:09So, yes, the rest of the team remain.
15:13And I suppose the message to the fans going into tomorrow's game is just positivity.
15:18Yes, for sure.
15:19I think we've just got to try and...
15:21My job is to try and put a belief into the players,
15:24but so the fans have got to as well.
15:26Really believe.
15:27Every time we get a corner, really cheer like we've got a goal.
15:30Do you know what I mean?
15:31It does help.
15:32And all of a sudden the players get up and think,
15:33oh, we're on it.
15:34And really get behind them, which I know they will anyway.
15:36I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and I'm sure the players are.
15:41I can't wait to come out and see the fans.
15:43But, yes, let's really get behind the lads tomorrow
15:46because, like I said, we can't achieve anything just with 11 men out there.
15:50We can't.
15:51We have to have 11 men out there and thousands in the crowd
15:54and everyone really urging us on.
15:58And let's see where it takes us.
16:00Brilliant. Well done.