Football: Crawley break the mould

Caretaker bosses John Yems, Ben Judge and Dave Woozley have sparked a Reds revolution since taking over last November.

Their appointment was thought to be a stop-gap measure following the sacking of John Hollins.

Judge and Woozley made up half the back four and had no managerial experience, while not many fans knew much about Yems, who had been brought in a few months earlier as youth coach.

Victory in their first game against St Albans came as a pleasant surprise but a more experienced boss was expected to move into the hotseat.

Fast forward three months and the trio are still there and winning matches.

Reds take on St Albans again on Saturday having lost just two league games since that first meeting at the Broadfield Stadium.

They have risen from second-bottom to 13th place, seven points clear of the relegation places, after finding the consistency former Chelsea boss Hollins struggled to achieve.

The trio's success goes against all the traditional rules of management.

There is normally only one boss, "the gaffer", who makes the crucial decisions. He usually has a loyal right-hand man who stays out of the limelight and does most of the donkey work.

Coaches who bark at the players in training come below managers in the football hierarchy.

It is a model that has been stuck to rigidly through the decades and is acknowledged as the best system.

Some clubs have tried and failed to break the mould, most notably when Liverpool struggled under joint-managers Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier in 1998.

So how have Reds made it work?

Yems said: "A lot of it is about being honest with each other. If we don't agree with something we say so, we don't just agree and then moan about it later.

"That goes for the players as well. Everyone is open and honest and that has been reflected in the results.

"The three of us get on and I don't think we have had too many disagreements, although that is not to say we don't have a few healthy discussions.

"We listen to each other and none of us think we are the big boss, we all work together.

"We have been lucky in that we have not had to make too many earth-shattering decisions. Because we have been doing well, we have not had to change things around too much.

"We have a game plan and a shape we are all happy with and we work towards it seven days a week."

Yems says the attitude of the players has been a major factor in Crawley's success.

He said: "One of the most important things is that we have good players around us who all do what we have asked them to do.

"They have been absolutely superb about the situation. There are no big time Charlies, those players have gone, and everyone is working for each other.

"That is where Judgey and Wooze deserve a lot of credit. Because they are players themselves, they help keep all the boys happy.

"We know there is no whispering behind the manager's back or back-biting like at some clubs because they are in the camp.

"There is a healthy atmosphere because we all get on and everyone is happy."

While Judge and Woozley help bridge the gap between manager and player, Yems brings experience.

The former Millwall player holds a UEFA A coaching badge and has worked with Fulham, Millwall and the United States under-21s.

He also had a spell as manager of Horsham and coached at Kingstonian, Dulwich Hamlet and Molesey.

Yems said: "It is hard to play and manage the side because you expect others to be at your standard and you also don't see certain things. That is where I can help because I am the eyes and ears on the touchline. I do the coaching which helps the two boys concentrate on their training.

"But it is not about one individual, we listen to everyone's opinions. When you have experienced players like Tony Scully and Scott Hiley, it would be stupid not to ask for their input.

"We know we have done nothing yet and things could change very quickly, so we will just keep doing what we are doing, which means working our nuts off."