UPDATE: Crawley Town completed its doubtful development search Sunday with a 2- 0 win over Crewe Alexandra.
Crawley Town F. C. user Preston Johnson has a lot at play on Sunday.
He assisted in the acquisition of the League Two hockey team with Web3 rival WAGMI United, which he led 30 miles west of London, two years ago. They created NFTs that would enable followers to influence crew decisions and support a stronger squad. The new club directors made a promise, too: If they did n’t achieve promotion by 2024, the fans could vote them out. They estimated a shift upwards was almost a 50- 50 statement.
They had no notion what they were trying to accomplish.
In WAGMI’s first 12 weeks in command, the group went through five managers. It finished second to the last and hardly avoided fall in a period, recording fewer points in a single period than it did since the early 1980s. Crypto crashed.

” We F—ing Hate WAGMI” slogans often emanated from the home sits. “WAGM I out! WAGMI out”!, more pleasant protest proclaimed. ( WAGM I stands for We’re All Gonna Make It, a vestige from crypto’s boom period. )
Johnson began seeing a doctor for the first time, while co-chairman Eben Smith mainly remained out of the public attention, aside from an enraging series of tweets that were immediately deleted.
Crawley entered 2023- 24 as an odds- on preferred to obtain sent down, with a fan base available to free itself of its British interlopers. And yet, despite all that conflict in year one, what has happened this time might be even more doubtful.
After items soured last month, rights tamped down its bitcoin ballyhoo. Following FTX’s decline, there was less enthusiasm in that sector. And who was going to buy NFTs from a team that was n’t winning, anyway?
Over the summer, the group therefore resolved to reform its roster—but on a budget. Following a proprietary algorithm that looked for prospects in lower-level leagues, Crawley Town let some fan favorites leave in favor of newcomers.
” It raised a lot of brow”, Crawley Observer writer Mark Dunford said. ” Supporters were saying,’ Who are these folks? ‘…. Nobody could possibly imagine what has transpired this month, in my opinion.
Owners focused on making minor changes to the facility to please the locals. On the front of the team’s uniforms was a Crawley Town Community Foundation advertisement that read” A image representing NFT venture Chromie Squiggles.”
However, the angle made the biggest benefits.
The team, which was halfway through the year, was sat mid-table and won six of its eight games to move up the standings. The new people, led by manager Scott Lindsey, found their hole.
Simply before that work, Johnson made his first admirer community in a while.
” People told us, and everyone tells fresh 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, grey sweater sleeves pushed off. ” But, like, you absolutely have no clue what you’re getting into. You definitely do n’t. I was humbled, for sure, quickly”.

Crawley advanced to the final against Crewe Alexandra Sunday at 8 a.m. ET, one match apart from League One opposition, after an 8- 1 biting of the best seeded MK Dons over two games in the development finals.
With the Red Devils playing at Wembley Stadium for the first time, whether they win or lose, story will be made. While the team’s Broadfield Stadium votes just over 6, 000 people, Dunford said more than 15, 000 followers had already bought cards as of earlier in the week.
Johnson will remain observing from a designated area in the royal field of the venue. ” They told us it’s proper and it’s clothing and tie”, Johnson said. I had to go shopping for a shirt and tie because I hardly ever unique one.
Promotion would n’t bring riches. As income grows, so does the cost of keeping up with different groups looking to increase even more in England’s sports tower.
Dunford said fans would likely support additional rounds of NFT sales if it meant increasing the budget to hire more players for League One play, and WAGMI has n’t yet abandoned its crypto beliefs. Ironically, certain sectors of the cryptocurrency resource economy have resurrected at the same time as Crawley Town has. Bitcoin is off 150 % year- over- year.
And if Crawley’s work ends Sunday? Johnson stated that the team intends to fulfill its promise to hold an election this summer and to change its management.
Midway through the year, Dunford would’ve put Johnson’s chances at surviving such a contest below 50 %. However, today’s circumstances are different.
” There will be a lot of fans that will definitely say,’ Basically, they’re not poor,'” 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. In any case, Johnson will remember the team’s final regular season game at Broadfield Stadium this year, when Crawley won 2- 0 at home against Grimsby Town on April 27 and secured a spot in the promotional playoffs.
Fans invaded the pitch. Although any profanity this time was the result of disbelief rather than disgust, there was still chanting.
Johnson claimed that during the difficult times, he felt guilty for abusing 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”.
The American owner instinctively grabbed his phone to record the scene as they celebrated. Then he considered it more, opting instead to hear the appreciative roar of the crowd.