'We can’t just put it all on the gaffer' - Crawley Town striker Ashley Nadesan on current results, his Reds career so far and the best player he has played with

In his 133 appearances for Crawley Town, Nadesan has always been a fan favourite as a local lad. Born just 11 miles from the Broadfield Stadium in Redhill, the now 28-year-old used to come and watch the likes of Sergio Torres, Dannie Bulman and Matt Tubs as a youngster.

“I’d like to think I can inspire that next generation of Crawley Town players,” said Nadesan, over three years into his Crawley career. “When (Dannie) Bulman was here, he was so down to earth and that’s what I want to be like. If people look up to be, then that’s unreal. I’m happy for people to see me as the local lad. It’s seemed to have worked.”

Alongside current teammate Tom Nichols, Nadesan is in the top five top goal scorers Crawley have ever had. In their two years playing together, they’ve been the Reds’ star attackers with 53 goals between them.

Speaking on the best player Nadesan had played with, he said, “I’ll stick to Crawley, and I feel like it’s got to be Tom Nichols. As soon as he gets the ball, he knows where I am, as soon as I get the ball, I know I’m going to set him up. I feel like our partnership has flourished in the last couple of seasons. I’ve achieved career high goals and assists because of him.”

As a centre-forward known for dropping between the lines and linking play together, Nadesan has been pivotal for Crawley’s creativity in the final third. On how he effects the game, Nadesan said, “I feel like I put doubt into defenders’ heads. My pace is my main thing, but I also stretch the game by making defenders think I’m going run in behind and giving Dom (Telford), Nicho (Tom Nichols) and Tills (James Tilly) space.”

Tom Fellows, Crawley’s recent loanee from West Bromwich Albion cited Gareth Bale and Chiesa as his main inspiration for his style of play. However, for Nadesan, there’s only one man.

“Messi is my hero,” said Nadesan. “Hopefully he’ll go onto win a world cup this year which would be great. I’m supporting Argentina in the final even if it’s between them and England, 100%. England can go on to do it, this could be the only time we see Messi win it.”

This season, under new ownership of WAGMI United and manager Kevin Betsy, the Reds have managed to attract and sign a calibre of players the club hasn’t seen for a long time. However, some fans have recently called for the dismissal of Betsy following only one win from their opening eleven league games.

At the heart of a transitional dressing room, Nadesan said, “We’re still getting to know each other, and it needs time to gell. He’s (Kevin Betsy) got the philosophy and there’s been a lot of changes. However, there’s still a lot of things that were here before he joined. We can’t just put it all on the gaffer. It’s more about getting results on the pitch.”

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