The question that all Crawley Town fans want answered - opinion

He didn’t appear to be very happy with the effort put in by the team selected to face a team that were not only bottom of the division but had lost five nil at home in their last match.

I am not one to get on a manager’s back after just two games in charge, as I think we should first look at the team selected and acknowledge the fact that it would not have been the manager’s first choice.

There was no George Francomb, Ludwig Francillette, Teddy Jenks, Remi Oteh, Tom Fellows or David Robson available for selection because of injury or sickness, which under other regimes might have meant not covering the pitch the day before in order that the game would be postponed.

On top of that, in the first 15 minutes we lost the services of Ashley Nadesan and Joel Lynch through muscle injuries, and the script for the night was set. Harry Ransom, coming on for Lynch, played well I thought, but for Crawley to have only one effort on target - and that from a James Tilley header – it begs the question that all Crawley fans want answered.

What is the reason for Tom Nichols’ absence?

Surely, we are not letting his “new” club dictate to us that he can’t play until the window opens, are we?

Perhaps if he was Premier League or Championship bound for a huge fee, that might, just, be understandable.

However, the clubs being rumoured to be in the frame are mostly League two clubs, and ones that we should not sell any of our players to, or, even for that matter, loan out to.

Honesty and transparency are what we were promised by WAGMI, so here’s a question for our owners.

Is Matty Etherington allowed to select the team based on his and Simon Davies’ judgement of the squad, as surely Tom would be in any first team at the Broadfield Stadium, whether the rest of the squad were fit or not?

On a ranking these are the most important things in my life:

Family, health, Crawley Town, England, everything else

Suddenly, England, after the Crawley game, were at the top of my ranking because of the World Cup.

I, along with a Redz bar and a marquee full of eager, anticipatory three lions' supporters hoped above everything that this year would be our year. Sadly, it wasn’t to be, as the usually dependable Harry Kane missed his second spot kick and the older members of those watching thought back to all those “so nearly” times that had gone before.

Younger members of the audience learning another valuable lesson in what it means to support your team with all your heart.

In my opinion, the better team on the night lost, not because of a lack of effort or skill, dubious decisions or a flash of oppositional brilliance, but simply because in football those sorts of things happen.

Now, cheer me up someone, please.

Tell me Super Tom has signed a new contract.