This evening, CTSA chairman Sam Jordan and Fan Representative Steve Leake met with Crawley Town’s vice chairman Nuhkan Ruzgar and were joined by Erdem Konyar on the phone.

The meeting started with the CTSA asking how Kelly Derham was removed from her position as Operations Director.

The club have confirmed that Kelly has been dismissed and is entitled to appeal the decision.

The CTSA stated that although it is the club’s prerogative to hire and dismiss whoever they like, they were disappointed to find out that an individual who has served the club for so long was notified by email of her departure and that her colleagues found out before her.

The CTSA have expressed their concerns that they wouldn’t want the club to be in a position where they have to pay out money at a tribunal if the dismissal hasn’t been handled in accordance with employment law in the UK.

Nuhkan confirmed that he will be taking over the running of the club off the field whilst Erdem will continue running the football side of the operation.

The CTSA were concerned that members of staff may not be paid on time but we have been told that payroll will be outsourced and everyone will be paid on time.

The CTSA expressed their concern at the poorly worded statement released to confirm Kelly’s departure. Nuhkan hadn’t read the statement at the time of our meeting and informed us that it was written by the club’s lawyers.

The statement read: “in light of the current financial challenges the club is facing it is one that the club was forced into.”

When asked about these ‘financial challenges’ we were told that there is nothing new to report and that the club would like to go in a different direction with how it is run and that the owners would like to be closer to what is going on and to move forward the off-field operation, hence the change.

The CTSA expressed their concerns about Nuhkan’s credentials of running an English football club but Nuhkan states he has enough experience from Turkey to do so and if required, the club will hire people from other clubs who know what to do.

As Kelly is the only name on the safety certificate for the club, the CTSA were concerned about whether Saturday’s game would go ahead. We have been informed that it will still go ahead and that Nuhkan will replace Kelly in this capacity.

Following the reaction to this news from supporters, the CTSA have requested that a fans’ forum be held at the earliest possible opportunity so questions can be asked. The club have stated they will look into this.

The CTSA would like to thank Kelly Derham for her commitment to our football club and has invited her and her family to be guests of ours at a game in the near future. We hope Kelly will take this up in the New Year.

The CTSA urges everyone to get behind the team on Saturday as we look for an important three points.

If anyone would like to speak to Sam or Steve, they will be in the Redz Bar before the game.