Darcy looking to repeat 'best football' of career

Crawley Town winger Ronan Darcy says he's determined his second spell at the Broadfield Stadium will be as successful as his first one.

The 25-year-old helped the Reds win promotion to League One in 2024 before moving to fellow third-tier side Wigan Athletic in January 2025.

He made just 14 appearances and scored once for the Latics before going on loan to League Two Chesterfield for the first half of this season. He's now returned to Crawley to be reunited with promotion-winning manager Scott Lindsey.

"As soon as I knew the call was Scott, straight away he sells it to you!" Darcy told BBC Radio Sussex. "That was probably the best football I ever played in my career when I was here when we got promoted, and the season afterwards.

"I just wanted to come back and enjoy my football and play as many games as I can."

Darcy is one of four members of Crawley's 2023-24 promotion-winning squad to rejoin the club in the January transfer window following the returns of Kellan Gordon, Danilo Orsi and Klaidi Lolos.

The Reds made a club record 13 new loan or permanent signings in all during last month as they battle to stay in the football league.

Darcy says the squad is now a good blend because "there have been three or four of us who have played together before" and "we know how each other play".

He added: "You just want to give that extra bit and it just gives you that bit more bite. They all work hard for you and everyone becomes a team slowly.

"The new lads have also all settled in very well and we've got to keep this momentum going now."

Crawley's last few years have been a rollercoaster, starting 2023-24 as relegation favourites before Lindsey took them up via the play-offs.

They came straight back down in 2025 and have been in and out of the relegation places all this season. Seven points from their last three matches have taken them up to 19th, six points clear of the bottom two.

Club CEO Tom Allman admits dropping back out of the football league was something the new owners who arrived in August 2025 had to try to avoid.

He said: "The start to the season wasn't good enough. We needed action. We've been really well backed by the ownership.

"You never want to see the club down the bottom end. You want to see it fighting for promotion. We know it's the hub for a lot of people and we have a sense of duty for not only the club but the town, and we think things are starting to look a lot rosier."

The club's recent upturn in form has coincided with the return of the likes of Darcy and he says they are on the right track.

"Barrow was awful but got three points, Walsall was unbelievable but didn't get three points and Harrogate very good only in parts but got the three points. This now is about getting as many wins as we can under our belt.

"We've got to give our all for the next 17 games because, as we've seen in the last three, we're a very good team when we're on it and we've just got to be on it now."