Turkish businessman Ziya Eren has been backed to take Crawley Town to the next level after completing his takeover of the club.

Eren finally took control of the League Two outfit yesterday nearly four weeks after the deal was originally expected to take place.

The steel magnate’s first decision on taking the reins was to have a total clearout at boardroom level with chairman Dave Pottinger, co-owner Matt Turner, chief executive Michael Dunford and board member Ian Carter all resigning with immediate effect.

Eren is due to appoint a new board of directors today together with laying out his plans for Crawley having previously stated his ambition to take the club into the Championship within the next ten years.

Reds have seen their fortunes falter since the club was put up for sale in March 2013 having risen from non-league to League One thanks to the financial backing of benefactor Paul Hayward.

They were relegated last season and are currently in the bottom half of League Two but Pottinger believes Eren is the right man to turn things around.

He said: “We made a promise in 2013 that we were only interested in selling to people we thought could take the club forward. We have held true to that promise as we believe that the new owners have the experience, the knowledge, the finance and the ambition to take this club to the next level.”

The Argus exclusively revealed that Eren was in talks to buy Crawley in January and the deal was originally due to be completed on February 12. The buyout was held up while the Football League checked that Eren – who also owns Turkish second division side Kayseri Erciyesspor – passed their Owners and Directors test.

He is expected to put two associates who attended recent games with him in charge of the day to day running of the club but Pottinger believes Eren has made a mistake by not retaining the services of Turner.

Pottinger added: “I believe it is a missed opportunity by the new owners not to involve Matt. He has worked tirelessly for the club and I am sure that his local business pedigree and connections would have proved to be an asset to the new regime.”