UPDATE: Crawley Town completed its unlikely promotion quest Sunday with a 2-0 win over Crewe Alexandra.
Crawley Town F.C. owner Preston Johnson has a lot at stake on Sunday.
Two years ago, he helped lead a takeover of the League Two soccer club 30 miles south of London with Web3 group WAGMI United. They minted NFTs that would give fans a say in team decisions and help fund a stronger squad. The new club directors made a promise, too: If they didn’t achieve promotion by 2024, the fans could vote them out. They estimated a move up was roughly a 50-50 proposition.
They had no idea what they were in for.
In WAGMI’s first 12 months in charge, the team went through five managers. It tallied fewer points in a season than it had since the early 1980s, finishing third-to-last and barely avoiding relegation. Crypto crashed.
“We F—ing Hate WAGMI” chants often emanated from the home stands. “WAGMI out! WAGMI out!,” more polite protestors proclaimed. (WAGMI stands for We’re All Gonna Make It, a vestige from crypto’s boom period.)
Johnson began seeing a therapist for the first time while co-chairman Eben Smith largely stayed out of the public eye, save for an explosive series of tweets that were quickly deleted.
Crawley entered 2023-24 as an odds-on favorite to get sent down, with a fan base ready to rid itself of its American interlopers. And yet, despite all that chaos in year one, what has happened this season might be even more unlikely.
After things soured last year, ownership tamped down its blockchain ballyhoo. There was less excitement in that industry writ large following FTX’s collapse. And who was going to buy NFTs from a club that wasn’t winning, anyway?
Over the summer, the team then resolved to overhaul its roster—but on a budget. Crawley Town let several fan favorite veterans leave in favor of newbies discovered partly using a proprietary algorithm that identified prospects in lower-level leagues.
“It raised a lot of eyebrows,” Crawley Observer editor Mark Dunford said. “Fans were saying, ‘Who are these people?’…. I don’t think anyone could ever envisage what has happened this year.”
Owners did what they could to satisfy locals, focusing on small improvements around the stadium. A symbol representing NFT project Chromie Squiggles was replaced on the front of the team’s jerseys with an ad for the Crawley Town Community Foundation.
But the biggest gains came on the pitch.
Sitting mid-table halfway through the season, the club reeled off six wins in eight matches to leap up the standings. The new players, led by coach Scott Lindsey, found their groove.
Just before that run, Johnson returned for the first fan forum in months.
“Everyone told us, and everyone tells new owners—especially American owners—you have no idea what you’re getting into, and you’re like ‘Ya ya ya, whatever,’” Johnson said at the mic, beige sweater sleeves pushed up. “But, like, you definitely have no clue what you’re getting into. You definitely don’t. I was humbled, for sure, instantly.”
An 8-1 smacking of top seeded MK Dons over two matches in the promotion playoffs pushed Crawley into the final against Crewe Alexandra Sunday at 8 a.m. ET , one match away from League One competition.
Win or lose, history will be made as the Red Devils play in Wembley Stadium for the first time. While the club’s Broadfield Stadium seats just over 6,000 people, Dunford said more than 15,000 fans had already bought tickets as of earlier in the week.
Johnson will be watching from an allotted area in the venue’s royal box. “They told us it’s formal and it’s shirt and tie,” Johnson said. “I barely own a shirt and tie; I got to go shop for one.”
Promotion wouldn’t bring riches. While revenue expands, so does the cost of keeping up with other teams looking to rise even further in England’s football pyramid.
WAGMI hasn’t totally abandoned its crypto beliefs, and Dunford said fans would probably approve of another round of NFT sales if it meant raising the budget to acquire more talent for League One play. Coincidentally, certain sectors of the blockchain asset economy have bounced back at the same time Crawley Town has. Bitcoin is up 150% year-over-year.
And if Crawley’s run ends Sunday? Johnson said the club plans to make good on its promise of a summer election and a possible change in management.
Midway through the year, Dunford would’ve put Johnson’s chances at surviving such a contest below 50%. But things are different now.
“There will be a lot of fans that will probably say, ‘Actually, they’re not bad,’” he said.
For his part, Johnson said, “Whether I get voted in next year or not if we’re not promoted, I’m kind of at peace.”
Jubilation at Wembley on Sunday would be a special achievement. But either way, Johnson will look back fondly on the team’s final regular season match at Broadfield Stadium this year, when Crawley secured a spot in the promotional playoffs with a 2-0 win at home against Grimsby Town on April 27.
Fans invaded the pitch. There was still chanting, though any profanity this time was the result of disbelief rather than disgust.
Johnson said he had felt guilty during the tough times for taking happiness away from Crawley supporters. “This club is their livelihood, it’s everything,” he said. On that day, he added, “I realized these fans have joy in their club again.”
Watching them celebrate, the American owner instinctively pulled out his phone to record the scene. Then he thought better of it, choosing instead to listen to the appreciative roar of the crowd.
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