'Not miles apart' - Crawley Town owner reveals talks on stadium purchase have been 'positive and amiable'

In an interview with The Athletic, Johnson revealed talks have been 'positive and amiable'​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ as they look to take control of the ground.

WAGMI faced a lot of criticism in their first season as owners of Crawley Town, but they got a lot behind the scenes. They got the club’s community foundation integrated with the club, built a fan zone, and the team training on grass pitches.

They also cut the price of tickets and attendances went up from 2,300 in year one to 3,600 last season. The next logical step is buying the ground.

Johnson, who recently stepped down as co-chairman, told The Athletic: “We’re not miles apart on the price and they understand the value of having a thriving football club in the town,” he says. “Talks have been positive and amiable. We’ll get something sorted.”

Johnson added in his interview: “Our ground holds about 5,900 and we had four games last season when we effectively sold out with more than 5,000 fans in there,” he says. “But when the gates are just 2,000, we’re running at a loss. We’ll get an extra £800,000 from the EFL next season, thanks to promotion, but all of that will go on the playing budget.”

In the past two weeks we have seen Laurence Maguire join MK Dons, Nick Tsaroulla join Notts County, Will Wright join Swindon Town and Adam Campbell join Hartlepool United. The latest transfer news was Player of the Season and top scorer Danilo Orsi was leaving to join Burton Albion.

Crawley have made two signings so far in Antony Papadopoulos and Charlie Barker – two young players who fit the blueprint of Reds’ transfer policy last summer.

You can read the full interview on The Athletic here.