Why Rob Elliot's appointment at Crawley Town is a win-win for both parties.

Rob Elliot has officially been appointed Crawley Town manager on a two and a half year deal and will take charge of his first game against Wycombe Wanderers on October 5th. While it is a big jump from the National League to League One, here is why it makes sense for both parties. 

Elliot who was appointed Caretaker manager of Gateshead in October 2023 led them to sixth in his first season but due to issues with the tenure of their stadium, they could not compete in the play-offs. 

Just like Crawley, in May 2024 the Tynesiders won a trophy at Wembley Stadium when they lifted the FA trophy for the first time in the clubs history which won Elliot the role of permanent manager in June 2024. 

Just over three months later, the Irishmen made the switch down to West Sussex to become manager of Crawley Town after Scott Lindsey's departure and now he has a real job on his hands if he wants to keep Reds from going down. 

Elliot, nicknamed the Dilsh plays a similar style of football to Lindsey, with an emphasis on playing out from the back and short passing. 

Whilst in charge at Gateshead, he made his side play possession based football who aimed to keep the ball on the ground rather than a direct approach which allowed them to control matches. His preferred formation was a 3-5-2 with an aim to use their technical quality to play through the opposition press. Not only were the outfield players comfortable on the ball, but the keeper too as he would help form a situational back four during their deep build. 

In the National League, Gateshead had the highest average possession, attempted the most passes and the highest passing accuracy. 

The similarities between Elliot's Gateshead and the current Crawley Town team is remarkable. Under Lindsey, Reds opted to play a 3-5-2 with wing-backs a key part of the system. So far this season, we have seen Crawley dominate possession, create silky passing movements but struggle to create any dangerous chances whilst controlling games. However with Elliot in control, we could see an attacking overload against an opposition's back four as the Dilsh opts to push his midfield players into forward areas which leaves space for the ball to be recycled by a defensive midfielder which in Crawley's case would be Jay Williams. 

Hopefully it will not take long for Elliot, to make some slight tweaks to this Crawley side before they are creating more opportunities and scoring goals and with very few differences between Lindsey's and his own ideas it is likely the players will pick up on it quite quickly which will create a seamless transition for both player and manager.