2010–11 Crawley Town F.C. season
The 2010–11 season was the 61st season in which Crawley Town played senior football, and their seventh in the Football Conference. On 1 July 2010, following a number of signings, the club held a press conference to declare their intentions for the coming season. They confirmed that the club had cleared £1,000,000 of debt and was now debt-free, and that Bruce Winfield has bought the shareholding formerly held by the Prospect Estates group. On 9 April, Crawley won the Conference National, beating Tamworth 3–0, and by doing this they will be a Football  League club for the first time in their history. Season summary. Prior to the beginning of the season, the club spent around £600,000 on players, signing the likes of Matt Tubbs from Salisbury City, Sergio Torres from Peterborough United and Richard Brodie from York City for a non-league record fee, financed in part by anonymous Far Eastern investors. The club saw success in the league losing just thrice all season before being promoted to the Football League for the first time in their history on 9 April 2011 following a 3–0 victory away to Tamworth. They finished top  of the league on 105 points, a division record. The club also saw success in the FA Cup, reaching the fifth round of the competition before being eliminated by eventual Premier League champions and FA Cup semi-finalists Manchester United. In 2017, football magazine FourFourTwo rated the Crawley Town team of the 2010–11 season the 21st most hated team of all time in British football, as a result of the club's significant financial backing and their unpopular manager Steve Evans, who was found guilty of tax evasion at his previous club Boston United. Due to the club's significant  financial backing from anonymous foreign investors, they were referred to as the 'Manchester City' of non-league football. The anonymous owner was later revealed to be Hong-Kong-based Paul Hayward. Match results. "Crawley Town results given first" Annual awards. Crawley News Player of the Year. Matt Tubbs Crawley Observer Player of the Year. Pablo Mills Crawley Observer Young Player of the Year. Kyle McFadzean CTFC.net Player of the Year. Kyle McFadzean