New Crawley director Derham wants to build relations with the fans

Crawley Town's new operations director Kelly Derham is keen to build the club's relationship with the fans.
Kelly Derham and Selim Gaygusuz have been appointed to the board of directors. Image by : James Boardman SUS-160317-163534002Kelly Derham and Selim Gaygusuz have been appointed to the board of directors. Image by : James Boardman SUS-160317-163534002
Kelly Derham and Selim Gaygusuz have been appointed to the board of directors. Image by : James Boardman SUS-160317-163534002

The current head of finance and company secretary will take over the off-field running of the club from outgoing chief executive Michael Dunford.

Before joining Reds she had her own bookkeeping company for 11 years and advised the club on bringing in a computerised accounting system.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Derham was Dunford’s No.2 and has worked at the club since 2012 firstly as head of finance and then added the role of club secretary.

She said: “The new owner (Ziya Eren) wants to create a stronger relationship with the fans.”

Evidence of this was the installation of a new scoreboard ready for the first home game since taking over for Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Hartlepool.

“The fans have waited all season for a new scoreboard so that is his present to them!

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’ve always said we want to increase our gates. If we can engage with the town’s youth, they can be our fans of the future.

“When you walk around Crawley you can see them wearing Chelsea and Tottenham shirts when they should be wearing ours!”

Derham met with representatives from the Supporters Alliance last night (Tuesday).

She is also keen to continue the work of the Crawley Town Community Foundation, the charity wing of the club, which she is already a trustee of.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Derham said: “This is going so well and is involving every element of the community, not just the football side.

“I have a good working relationship with everyone at the club and I aim to keep a steady ship.

“I’m quite strict and the club is in a good position financially with no loans or overdraught. There are no credit cards.”

Derham comes from Crawley and went to school at Ifield Community College.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She doesn’t expect massive changes but would like to hear from anyone with good ideas to improve the club by emailing [email protected]

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!