FAN'S VIEW: Crawley Town fan Steve Herbert believes Crawley have the perfect ingredients for an exciting season

Football is back! Hold on tight for another roller-coaster ride of highs and lows following Crawley Town Football Club home and away.

After the way last season petered out, us Crawley fans could certainly do with a fresh start, and with a new management duo, seven new players, a new kit, not to mention a new commercial manager in our very own Reds fanatic Joe Comper, we have the perfect ingredients for an exciting, edge of your seat 2017/18 season.

So what have we learnt from pre-season?

Well for a start only play Premier League new boys Brighton and Hove Albion behind closed doors, where Reds only lost 1-0 as opposed to the 6-0 drubbing the Seagulls gave us in front of our own fans.

Apart from that, pre-season has gone pretty well with results and goals aplenty.

Matt Harrold has managed to score more goals than games played in the whole of last season and as for the new players both Moussa Sanoh and Panutche Camara have caught the eye, the latter with goals aplenty.

It was great to see new Dutch forward Thomas Verheydt get off the mark against Pompey. He looks a very exciting player and someone who could boss a lot of defenders in League Two.

For myself I was honoured to be asked to write the Crawley Town preview for this coming season in FourFourTwo magazine.

It’s due out in the shops this week so if you don’t agree with my answers then please feel free to give me plenty of stick on the terraces at the next game!

We start the new season this coming Saturday with a home game against Port Vale, a fixture that has become quite sentimental among us loyal Reds.

Port Vale were the first team to grace the Broadfield Stadium when they played our Southern League outfit to open the stadium 20 years ago.

They were also the team we played when we made our Football League bow seven seasons ago.

Before this Saturday’s game the away travel club G&H coaches are providing a free buffet for Crawley fans from midday at the New Moon pub.

Alain, Pat and Kevin do a fantastic job in providing coaches to away games.

Come along and say hi and book yourself on a couple of away day adventures.

Incidentally our first away game of the season comes on Tuesday, August 8 when we travel to Birmingham City for a League Cup first round tie. #WhenHarryMetHarry or Redknapp v Kewell to be exact.

It’s an exciting tie and it’s also the first meeting between the sides.

We all know what a cup run can do for this town. Let’s hope Reds prevail and we wake up the footballing folk of this town once more.

By the end of last season the majority of Reds fans wanted change.

Well change is what the club gave us.

So let’s get behind Harry Kewell and the boys from the first whistle on Saturday.

Together we can be the 12th man. COYR!