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Normally a non-league team being drawn away to Manchester United in the FA Cup, let alone at such a stage as the fifth round, will attract an enormous amount of goodwill from all across the game. But Crawley Town aren’t a typical non-league club and the level of support the Sussex club will receive from neutrals will probably be considerably less than, say, Burton Albion achieved when they took United to a replay in 2006.

To many outsiders not familiar with non-league, Crawley’s unpopularity may seem odd. Yes, the team may be battling at the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier, but this isn’t about jealousy from rival fans or a desire to see the leaders get their comeuppance. The dislike of Crawley goes way beyond this. Certainly, other big clubs and promotion contenders in the division wouldn’t attract the same level of opprobrium.

The phrase “the magic of the cup” will no doubt be lazily banded around by some journalists with regard to Crawley’s trip to Manchester United, but their cup run so far has been anything but magical.

In the last round, the Red Devils beat Torquay United 1-0 at Plainmoor, but this wasn’t a giant killing. Torquay currently sit 13th in League Two, half a division above Crawley.

While the Gulls have scraped together a squad through the usual means of free transfers and picking up the odd released trainee, Crawley have spent close to £500,000 on assembling a team for “project promotion”. In contrast, Torquay’s record signing was £75,000 on Leon Constantine in 2004. As Barney Ronay notes, Crawley spent more than that on striker Richard Brodie alone. Their budget is likely to be higher than the majority of League Two teams and some in League One.

Crawley, up until this season, have never been flushed with cash. Indeed, much of their time since winning promotion to the Conference in 2004 has been spent battling assorted financial difficulties, while for a time, it was a rare season that didn’t see the Sussex club deducted points for some form of financial problems.

In 2009 Crawley supporters Bruce Winfield and Susan Carter took control of the club, paid off their debts and with it came a level of stability not previously seen around the Broadfield Stadium. This summer, however, Crawley suddenly became the division’s big spenders after Winfield brought in outside investors (although the club has regularly declined to name who these are).

Suddenly, Crawley were like a kid in the proverbial sweet shop. The aforementioned Brodie arrived from York City, along with other high-profile signings Matt Tubbs from Salisbury and Sergio Torres from Peterborough. Crawley had the cash to buy anybody they wanted and were rebuffed in a move for AFC Wimbledon’s captain Danny Kedwell, a bid that has kicked off numerous spats and ill-feeling between the two clubs.

So far, so “Manchester City of the Conference” you might think. After all, City haven’t exactly won many neutrals’ hearts with their big spending. But there are several reasons why the blue half of Manchester remains relatively likeable while few non-league fans wish Crawley well, and chief amongst these is manager Steve Evans.

You could go as far as to say that had Crawley been aiming for “project promotion” with any other manager than Evans, the level of feelings towards the club might be a lot less than with the Scot in charge.

Evans does not come across as a man who cares much for what other people think of him, and nor does he make any effort to win friends in the game. It is a regular site to see the Glaswegian unleash a torrent of abuse at officials or those he simply seeks to wind up, only to deny it ever happened later.

A case in point was Crawley’s trip to Kingsmeadow to play AFC Wimbledon this season. Several Wimbledon fans reported Evans refusing to shake opposite number Terry Brown’s hand after the game and exploding with rage at assorted members of the team and staff. Evans’ recollection was somewhat different, and claimed he’d shaken hands before expressing, politely, his unhappiness at the way towels were being used on the sidelines.

This is one of many incidents that seem to litter Evans’ career. Again, some may point to Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho as coaches who revel in winding up opposition managers, but there’s something about Evans that feels a lot less pleasant than these two managers. What’s more, neither Ferguson nor Mourinho has ever been convicted of fraud.

There’s a genuine feeling within the lower levels of the game that Evans’ criminal record should have resulted in a lifetime ban. At Boston United, Evans led the Pilgrims to promotion to the football league in 2002 off the back of some very creative accounting. Several players were on contracts that said they were on a fraction of what was actually being paid.

For example, as far as the FA were aware, Ken Charlery’s contract said the player was on £120 per week. Charley was actually on £620 a week and received a £16,000 signing on fee. No tax was paid on this, and the total level of tax avoided was £245,188, a significant sum at that level.

Evans and then-Boston owner Pat Malkinson were also found guilty by the FA of paying £8,000 to a witness in an attempt to mislead the enquiry. The FA fined Evans £8,000 and banned him from football for 20 months. Amazingly, Boston’s promotion still stood, although the club was fined £100,000 and docked four points the following season. Many feel that Dagenham & Redbridge, the club that were pipped to the title by Boston, should have found their way into the football league many years earlier than they eventually did.

In the criminal case that arose as the result of Boston’s deception, Evans received a one year suspended sentence. Incredibly, he had already returned to work as manager of Boston before this case and despite being convicted of fraud, kept his job at the club. He eventually resigned in 2007, just before the Pilgrims - then in the midst of a financial meltdown - were relegated from the football league.

Boston suffered two enforced demotions in successive seasons and spent time in the Northern Premier before gaining promotion back to the Conference North. Evans, meanwhile, pitched up at Crawley where he’s been ever since.

The Boston story is designed to give context to why many believe Evans should not be in the game in the first place, but since becoming Crawley manager he has done little to endear himself to the wider public. Controversial statements, touchline bans and regular rants have been a feature of his time at the club. They were already difficult to love with Evans in charge before Winfield and Chapman took control in the boardroom.

To many as well, “project promotion” and the manner in which it’s been assembled also have the distinct feel of a lack of class and an attitude, especially from a club with recently documented spells in administration and other woes, that is at odds with the spirit and ethos of the non-league game. In terms of budget and players, Crawley are a Conference club in name only.

And, although there’s nothing to suggest anything improper on the part of Crawley’s mystery investors, the eye-watering (for non-league level) sums of money involved mean a lot of people in the game would be more comfortable knowing just who is funding the Red Devil’s spending spree.

Evans for his part has said on the BBC Non-League show that he is unconcerned with knowing exactly who these backers are. It’s worth noting as well that the Conference, who have been getting tougher with the financial state of clubs, appear to be happy with Crawley’s current financial situation.

This isn’t to say clubs shouldn’t be ambitious or spend large sums at non-league level - Luton, for example, have a large budget in comparison to the rest of the division - but there’s something of the mixture of the large sums of money, the expensive squad, and Evans himself that makes for a club that attracts a lot of detractors.

Usually, no matter how big or unpopular the team, non-league will get behind one of their own in the FA Cup. That many non-league fans would rather the corporate might of Manchester United crushed Crawley in the competition speaks volumes about their standing within the game.

Tags: Crawley Town, FA Cup, Manchester United, non-league football, Steve Evans