Being brave

I have the attitude of: “What’s the worst that can happen?” 

Things have happened in my life that have shaped me as a person. It’s quite well documented that I lost my wife to cancer, and I’ve lost other loved ones. It is fair to say that, going through that, I learned a lot about myself. First and foremost as a person, but obviously it impacts who you are professionally, too.

As a coach, I don’t go into any games with fear. I’m quite brave with my outlook, and the way I want my team to look and play. I guess my approach has helped me to move forward in such a dogged industry, where there is a lot of pressure on managers. 

I tend to block that pressure out and really concentrate on how my team looks. Performances are everything to me. I feel results are always a by-product of performances. If we get the performances right, the results will follow. That is how I have gone about my work.

I have confidence in how I want my team to look, so I am really clear in my messages on how I want them to play. We go into every game to try to win; we are really aggressive and attacking, every game. The players feed off that. 

Early in the 2023/24 season, I spoke to the players at Crawley about things that a lot of managers probably wouldn’t speak about. For example, we spoke about the playoffs. It is the law of attraction. If I speak about something consistently, people around me start to listen and understand there is a chance that it can happen. We started speaking about the playoffs quite early in the season, and I mentioned it quite a lot.

"A LOT OF MANAGERS WOULDN’T TALK ABOUT WEMBLEY IF THEY GOT INTO THE PLAYOFFS. I FELT IT WAS IMPORTANT THAT I DID"

When we got to the back end of the season and it looked like the playoffs were possible, I mentioned Wembley and getting promoted. That law of attraction again. I told them I would back us to play against anybody over two games in the playoff semi finals, and I would back us to beat anybody at Wembley.

I kept saying that a lot of managers wouldn’t talk about Wembley if they got into the playoffs, but I felt it was important that I did. By doing that, the players had real belief that we could do it. I think that helped us win promotion.

I am quite confident as a coach. First and foremost, I believe in myself. Going into the promotion-winning season, I also believed in the players we had recruited over the summer. We had a really good pre-season, coaching in real detail every day, 11v11, how we would look both in and out of possession. 

What really helped us was that we had a tough start to the season, in terms of fixtures. Our first game was Bradford City at home – a really good side with a good manager in Mark Hughes. We won that 1-0. 

Next up in the league was a trip to Salford, who had been in the playoffs the season before. We played really well through the game, and drew 1-1. The game after that was MK Dons, who had just come down from League One, and had aspirations of going straight back up. We beat them. All of a sudden, you could see the players starting to think: “Actually, we can do something special here.” There was a real belief and confidence within the camp.

With it being an inexperienced team, though, we were kind of up and down with results. Performances were always of a decent level – there were only two or three times I wasn’t happy with the performance – but we were an inexperienced team. Sometimes we would dip, and lose games.

"beating them at home was a big game for us. A turning point, of sorts"

We didn’t pick up any wins in October. We only picked up one point in the whole month. Coming out of that, it was important that we got some results on the board – and we had a really good November and December. As we progressed through the winter months and got to the back end of the season, we were still in touch with the playoff places.

Notts County at home in early March was a big win for us, against a good side. We were aggressive in that game, in terms of how we pressed – but we also scored two good goals, and that gave the players real belief. We had lost 3-1 at Notts County in November, and came away feeling that they were a really good side – a kind of marker for where we wanted to be. So beating them at home was a big game for us. A turning point, of sorts.

Getting an 8-1 record aggregate score in the playoff semi finals against MK Dons was a big achievement. I firmly believe it was because of our aggressive nature and how we attacked both games. Having won the first leg 3-0 at home, a lot of people spoke to me about how we were going to approach the second game.

Would we get bodies behind the ball? So often that happens, to see the tie through. But my attitude was no, not at all, we are going to attack it like we did in the first game. We wanted to be just as aggressive, if not more so, in the second game. The aim was to press really hard, fast and high up the pitch, and also be dominant with the ball. The attitude from me rubbed off on the players, and they performed so well over the two games.

The way the semi finals panned out – in terms of performances and certainly the result – catapulted us into the final, aggressively. I think it was the semi finals that actually won us promotion.

We were really confident going to Wembley, where we knew we would have to work hard, run hard, play our way and do it really well. We also knew we had to defend resiliently against a different type of team, in Crewe Alexandra. But we went there really confident that we could go and win promotion.

"I felt that it was probably a risk, career-wise, but I wanted to do something that I enjoyed"

When you are in the moment, working, you are fully focused on the task of winning games of football. That day at Wembley, there was a job that had to be done. But then, when you are sitting on the team bus on the way home with the trophy, it starts to sink in what you’ve actually achieved: “Wow, I’ve just won promotion with Crawley Town.” That was an unbelievable feeling.

My coaching pathway has shaped me for the good. I’ve been involved in non-league football. Not so long ago I was the manager of Chatham Town in the ninth tier of the football pyramid, so I know how hard it can be to come through from that level. I appreciate every day that I’ve been involved in professional football, and am grateful for the people I work with.

When I did my B Licence, the coach educator told me that I should quickly move on to the A Licence. That told me that I probably had a talent for coaching. When I did my A Licence, there were some really good coaches and big names on the course.

Eddie Howe, Tommy Johnson, Chris Sutton, Alan Thompson and Neil Lennon were there. I was just little old Scott Lindsey from non-league, but I really enjoyed it and didn’t feel out of place. That was when I realised that I could have a career as a coach.

I enjoyed being around such good people and learning from them, and of course you end up networking as well. Chris saw me coach on the course, and offered me a job off the back of it, as first-team coach at Lincoln City.

I have always backed myself, no matter what level I have coached and managed. Taking over at Chatham was due to my situation at the time, with my wife being ill and me needing to be at home. I felt that it was probably a risk, career-wise, but I wanted to do something that I enjoyed. 

"I feel playing that way is the only way to play"

I have a passion for the game and coaching, and would sooner go and work in the ninth tier of football than say “I am too good for this”, and not work. It was important to me, and I really did enjoy it. We had a good side, and played some really good football. 

Wherever I have coached, I am really clear on how I want my team to look. I want them to have the ball, but I also want them to be really aggressive with it. We don’t want to make 100 passes at the back for the sake of it. We want to play through the pitch really quickly, and be aggressive. Having the ball should convert into creating goalscoring opportunities. 

We also have the attitude that we don’t like it when the opposition has the ball, so we want to be really aggressive in the press. It’s almost the attitude that: “They’ve got our ball.” I tell the players all the time that we want to get our ball back as quickly as we can. Then, when we get it back, we want to hold on to it as long as we can.

I feel playing that way is the only way to play. It’s enjoyable for footballers to play and for the supporters to watch, and I enjoy coaching it. We create plenty of goalscoring opportunities and score plenty of goals. We don’t always get it right; it can sometimes go wrong, but I will never change this approach. It’s the way I want to always be remembered – as a possession-based coach.

The English game has moved towards this, and not before time. For far too long, young players were being taught to kick the ball away from their goal. “Get rid of it!” That gives them that fear factor. We’ve got to get away from that now. We’ve got to give the players a little bit more licence to take some risks, make passes at the back, and for it to be normal for players to play out.

Some people say it’s too risky playing out from the back, but I think it’s more risky to keep giving the ball to the opposition. Let’s hope that we see it progressing even further.

"Whatever needs to happen has to be for the good of the team"

Everything in football is teamwork. The culture I have built at Crawley is all about being together – real togetherness. When a player is substituted and they get the hump about it, I don’t like to see them throw their hands up in the air, walk off the pitch and not shake anybody’s hand. I’m really against stuff like that. 

I’m big on everybody doing it for the team. Whatever needs to happen has to be for the good of the team, so the culture I have focused on building is togetherness. I want a really happy environment at the training ground; I won’t allow any negativity.

We talk about our goals all the time. Everything’s about creating a positive environment. Don’t get me wrong, Monday mornings, when I debrief Saturday’s game, can include some negatives. But that is quickly put to one side. There is a line drawn straight away, and we move on to the next game.

Getting promoted was a big achievement for Crawley Town. There are some big, big teams in League One. You’re looking at Birmingham City, Huddersfield, Bolton, Wigan, just to name a few. To be competing with them is exciting.

My ambition is to work at the highest level I can possibly work. Whatever level that ends up being, I will always back myself.

Author: Craig Bloomfield

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