Crawley boss John Gregory insists he had no choice but to transfer list five players in a bid to halt the club’s decline.

Captain Josh Simpson along with Brian Jensen, Conor Henderson, Matt Harrold and Lewis Young were all told they are no longer part of Gregory’s plans for the future yesterday.

Gregory is confident of bringing in a striker and a central midfielder ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Oldham Athletic as he looks to revamp a side which has slipped to 15th in League One and been dumped out of two cup competitions in the last month.

He said: “I could have waited until April and decided things were not working but that might have been too late. I had to do something about things now.

“I am just being proactive instead of just hoping things will get better. I’m hoping this mini-overhaul will help us improve but if not I will take the consequences of it.

“It is just a case of shaking everything up. I can’t just hope that in the next game they will suddenly start playing better and we will start winning.”

Gregory has been given the necessary funds to sign “two or three quality players” before the loan window closes on November 27 and will be able to make further additions if any of the five transfer listed players are offloaded.

He added: “We need another striker and probably a central midfielder too but the main thing is to get in two or three players who can be really influential.

“I’m looking for ready-made players who can go straight in and make a difference rather than taking a gamble on youngsters who it might take a while to settle in.”

Gregory has confirmed that those players on the transfer list will still be available for selection while they look for new clubs although Simpson and Harrold are currently sidelined by injury.