As a Lincon City fan, Boston United (a local rival of ours) are never going to be my favourite club. However, sometimes even your local rivals deserve a bit of your sympathy, and a few years ago poor old Boston were in need of some. They were relegated from the Football League, and then suffered the ignominious fate of being penalised for financial problems by being relegated a further two leagues in the next two seasons.
The reason that I felt sympathy for Boston fans then, was that their meteoric fall (is that an oxymoron?) was the result of cheating by one man - their own manager Steve Evans. Evans was found guilty by the FA of paying players more than their contracted wage, breaking competition rules and basically winning promotion illegally while avoiding a massive tax bill. When the case came to court, he was even then found guilty of bribing a witness. Even in the face of such blatant cheating, Boston's promotion was allowed to stand and Evans only given a one year suspended sentence - way to get tough on the cheats, huh?
So what has this got to do with Crawley Town, who have just been give a dream FA cup tie away at Manchester United? Well, Evans is now their manager and he still seems to be rubbing all and sundry up the wrong way as they buy their way into the Football League. Usually, in a tie like this the whole country would be supporting the little guy, but I know I'm not alone in hoping that Crawley get absolutely humiliated. Just ask Torquay fans about the cheating, whingeing and playacting that went on in the last round. Sure Crawley probably deserved to win, but there are ways to win and still be popular.
For a wonderfully written piece on why Crawley are everyone's least favourite non-league club, check out this great article at twofootedtackle.com
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