Crawley Town appoint Gabrielle Cioffi on three-year deal
Friday 7 September 2018 11:32, UK
Gabriele Cioffi has been confirmed as Crawley's new head coach on a three-year deal.
Cioffi, who replaces Harry Kewell at the League Two club, recently worked as part of Gianfranco Zola's coaching staff during his time in charge of Birmingham City in the 2016-17 season.
He has previously managed sides in the academy at Adelaide United in Australia and at Arabian Gulf League side Al Jazira.
Director of football Selim Gaygusuz said: "We had over 80 applicants for the vacancy and appointing a new head coach has been an exhaustive process which we started more than a week ago.
"We wanted a head coach with passion, dedication and someone who is prepared to work hard to improve our existing squad.
"In our extensive discussions with Gabriele we were impressed with his ideas and enthusiasm for the job and his short and long-term vision.
"He will inherit, in our opinion, the best squad we've had during our time in League Two and we are all looking forward with Gabriele to help take the club forward."
Cioffi, who is celebrating his 42nd birthday today, is a former defender who played in Italy's Serie B for 11 clubs where he made nearly 400 appearances.
Former manager Kewell left Crawley last week as he took up the vacant managers role at fellow League Two club Notts County after Kevin Nolan was sacked after four losses in their opening five games.
Crawley face Lincoln City on Saturday but the team will be taken by Filipe Morais and Jimmy Smith while Cioffi will be in attendance.
