‘Free hit’ – Crawley Town boss said he felt no pressure when he returned to the club
Reds drop to League Two was confirmed when Burton picked up a point against Wigan on Tuesday night. It has felt like a long time coming for Reds, who were 12 points from safety with nine games to go when Lindsey returned as manager.
When asked if the weight was lifted off his shoulders, Lindsey said “I don’t think there was ever any weight on my shoulders. Certainly. I always kind of felt it was a free hit these nine games.
“I’ve really enjoyed it. And I was saying this morning to the staff that it’s never felt like a relegation battle to me.” he added.
Lindsey’s returned lifted the spirit of the club over the past few weeks and there is a positive feeling as the season comes to an end.
“It doesn’t feel like a relegated club,” said Lindsey. “It really doesn’t. And I know that’s easy for me to sit here and say, but I’m being really honest with that.
“The players have been great. And I think the supporters would probably agree as well that we’ve seen some really good football in these last eight games. Really good football and some good goals.” He added.
Lindsey’s thoughts on the relegation were, as you would expect, straight to the point. “Through the course of the season, we haven’t been good enough and ultimately, we go down, but I want to create a winning environment here, which I think we have done really well.
“Certainly, in these last nine games since I’ve come back, I think we’ve won against some good teams. We’ve played well. We’ve kept clean sheets. We’ve scored a lot of goals, and we’ve picked some good points up.
“Unfortunately, we were just short of picking the right amount of points up. But it was a big mountain to climb when I came back in. We knew that. But I think we can safely say that the players gave it a go in the nine games that I’ve been here, or certainly in the last eight. I know we’ve got one more to go and I want to go to Shrewsbury and win because I want to build a winning mentality for next season.”
Like most, if not all Crawley fans, Lindsey was watching that vital Burton game on Tuesday night. “I was glued to the TV watching and hoping and praying that Wigan went and won that game,” he said. “But listen, as the end of the day, when you’re relying on other teams to do your job for you, it’s never a good sign. Unfortunately, we were doing that for a number of weeks.”
