Former manager Francis Vines today told Crawley's owners: "Go now".

He is furious that Chas and Azwar Majeed have applied to take Reds into administration and believes the Conference club are in danger of going under if they stay in charge.

Vines was the most successful manager in Crawley's history before being sacked by the Majeed brothers last October.

He sued them for unfair dismissal and was awarded more than £5,000 at an employment tribunal in March.

Reds have endured a season of off-field turmoil and financial problems since the Majeeds promised to invest £2m when they took over last July.

Vines said: "The only way the club is going to survive with any dignity is for them to go now.

"Who wants to support a club when the owners don't care about it and think they can do whatever they want?

"I don't want it to sound like sour grapes because it's not, I'm just sad to see what has happened to the club.

"It had been doing so well over the last few years and was moving forward and they've managed to take it backwards in less than a year.

"The last thing anyone wants if the club comes out of administration is for them to still be in charge.

"Hopefully it can survive and next time people will come in who know what they are doing."

The Majeeds have, in the past, blamed Vines and ex-chief executive Steve Duly for the financial crisis.

They claim the pair were involved in offering players big full-time contracts which the club could not afford.

But Vines said: "Steve Duly and I have been gone quite a long time now so if they want to carry on blaming people who have been out of the club for the last eight months then so be it.

"But people are not stupid enough to believe that, especially after they have told so many untruths.

"They wanted to run before they could walk. They thought the club would take off straight away and it didn't happen.

"I was told last pre-season that we were staying part-time, even though I knew these people were coming in.

"I had a meeting with them and then 45 minutes later we were going full-time. But I was told we weren't going full-time until the first Monday after the start of the season.

"That meant we couldn't prepare properly, so really it was like starting seven weeks behind everyone else.

"But that is history and there is not much we can do about that now. It has got to this stage because the people who run it and own it wanted instant success."

Administration will put the futures of all the players in doubt but Vines has told his former charges not to rush to leave the club.

He said: "I would advise the players to hang on. I have some ringing me up asking what to do and my advice is don't jump ship just yet, wait until you see what happens.

"They should stay until the last minute to see exactly what the administrators come up with."