Outgoing Dunford says Crawley Town are in safe hands

The former Birmingham City CEO has confirmed he will be leaving the club when the sale to new Turkish-based owners goes through.

Dunford joined the club back in 2013 and has spent 31 months in the role at Reds as successor to Richard Low.

Crawley have dropped down from League One in that time and also had former Aston Villa manager John Gregory appointed as boss.

Dunford, however, has announced - as expected - he will be leaving the club when new owner Ziya Eren takes over this week.

Writing in Saturday’s match programme, Dunford said: “Here at the Checkatrade Stadium, the winds of change are blowing through our club.

“The ‘for sale’ sign, which has been up since 2013, will very shortly be replaced by ‘under new owners’

“The process started back in October and in the next week or so will hopefully see the ownership of the club transferred to Turkish-based investors.

“Upon completion of the takeover, I will be leaving the club to allow the new owners to develop the club in their particular style and hopefully build on the solid foundations which they will now inherit.

“When I was invited by the then board to become a director and chief executive in August 2013 my brief was simple: to improve the professionalism of the club in all areas and to make Crawley Town less reliant on outside funding.

“I believe these two objectives have been achieved, hence we are now able to negotiate the sale of the club.

“I have really enjoyed my period as chief executive, making new friends and creating a lean, off-the-field team and infrastructure that would be capable of performing not only in this division but higher.

“Take it from me - we are in safe hands with the dedicated people who work behind the scenes for Crawley Town.

“It has been a huge privilege to have been part of Crawley Town for the past 30 months.”

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