Dermot Drummy is happy to rough it with Crawley Town after walking out on the high-life.

The appointment of Drummy as head coach on Wednesday raised a few eyebrows - and not just because he has no experience of managing at a senior level.

The 55-year-old seemed to have it made at Stamford Bridge where – as head of academy and international head coach – he enjoyed all the trappings of working for one of the biggest clubs in Europe and rubbing shoulders with some of the game’s star names.

In contrast Crawley have no training ground, no academy and head to Dagenham and Redbridge today where they will play out a game between two sides at the wrong end of League Two in front of a sparse crowd.

 

So why did Drummy decide to stop taking Roman Abramovich’s substantial pay-cheques last January and look to begin a managerial career in the lower reaches of the Football League?

He said: “It was comfortable and I earned a lot of money but I thought in the end I was flattening out so I had to make the move and I’m really happy I did. It is great to come out of the comfort zone as now I am driving home thinking ‘What am I going to do about this and that?’.

“It is important to challenge yourself. If you sit behind (Jose) Mourinho you get to a point where you want to taste it yourself. Brendan (Rodgers) made the move and Paul Clement made the move so I decided I want to make the move.

“I did it differently. I didn’t have a club to step into. I took some time out to get off the treadmill of the soccer world. I went to Bangu (in Brazil) but the deal there didn’t materialise and since then I’ve been watching games at a level I thought I might get an opportunity – which is League One and League Two.

“I’ve had to wait but I felt it was a challenge I needed to take on.I read a lot of autobiographies of successful people and the thing that comes across is that they are scared when they take on a challenge – but that’s a good thing.

“I have to thank the president (Ziya Eren) for having belief in me as it’s a brave step but hopefully I can prove it is the right one.”

Drummy made it clear when he met the press for the first time yesterday that he was comfortable being a head coach rather than having the title of manager.

Eren wants to run the club on a European model and has already installed his own man in a recruitment role to identify potential signings.

Drummy is happy to have some assistance on that front with only three of his current squad having contracts for next season but insists he will make the final decision on any players.

“I like the head coach role,” he added. “I like the idea that I link with someone and that we have an overall philosophy as a club.

“It puts me in charge but I’m not in total control of everything and that is how I want to work. We have a strong recruitment team and they are talking to me about players. I am looking at them and we debate it but ultimately I pick the players and it has got to be that way.”

Drummy has been promised funds to build a competitive squad over the summer after two lean years for Crawley.

Eren has targeted a place in the Championship within ten years and although Drummy is cautious to make any big statements about pushing for promotion at this stage he sees Bournemouth as an example of what can be achieved.

He said:: “Why not? Bournemouth have done it. If you look at the way Bournemouth play that is the way we want to go. I don’t know about the finances of Bournemouth but we have the ambition and the hope and the desire and sometimes that is every bit as important as money.

“I have been assured there is some funds there to bring in elite talent hopefully very soon so I think we can aim for the top half of the league next season.”