David Flitcroft: You can not just buy promotion

Posted Sunday, May 06, 2018 by PA

Mansfield boss David Flitcroft was quick to point out the shortcomings that cost the Stags promotion after they ended with a 1-1 draw against Crawley.

Flitcroft came in with just 12 games to go after Steve Evans walked out on his expensively-assembled side.

Flitcroft, who left Swindon for Mansfield, said: “You can’t just throw money at something and expect it to work.

“I think it’s probably the most expensive team in the league.

“But I don’t want ex-Championship players who just want to pick up the money.

“I want players that want to play for Mansfield Town week in week out.

“They were not fit enough when I came in – that was absolutely rock clear.

“You can’t fluke promotion, you have to design it and build it on the training ground.”

He added: “When I get this right and build a team that looks like a Dave Flitcroft team it will have all the ingredients that a Mansfield Town supporter wants.

“It will be fit, it will be dynamic and they will be able to out-run, out-fight, out-pass and out-think other teams.”

Stags had Crawley under the cosh for most of the game but wasted a host of chances.

“We created chance after chance and absolutely dominated every aspect.

“But we just could not finish them off.”

Crawley manager Harry Kewell added: “In the first 20-25 minutes we looked fantastic and we scored a beautiful goal, which even the home fans would have appreciated the style of.

“We looked controlling and positive. But then I think we just sat back a bit deeper.

“If you give the ball away, especially against a team like this, they will just bombard the box as they have been doing all year.

“We had a wonderful opportunity to make it 2-0 and if we’d taken it the game would have been dead and buried.

“We should have gone so much further this season, but it’s been a transitional period for us. We started the season slow, the middle section was excellent, then we’ve kind of tapered off. But it’s all a learning curve for me and my players.”