Former Italian international striker Pierluigi Casiraghi is priced as the short 1/7 favourite to become the new manager of Sky Bet League Two side Crawley Town. Harry Kewell recently left the club to manager divisional rivals Notts County, but the 49-year-old is being backed off the boards as if his appointment is a foregone conclusion.
Sky Bet have Casiraghi as the outstanding favourite for the vacancy, with second favourite Gabriele Cioffi rated a 6/1 shot. Crawley started life post-Kewell with a 2-1 away defeat at Oldham Athletic at the weekend. This evening they entertain the Tottenham Hotspur Under-21 side at Broadfield Stadium in their opening match of the Checkatrade Trophy.
Dean Saunders was initially installed as the likely frontrunner for the job, but his name has dropped off the betting list at this stage. It remains to be seen when Crawley are likely to find the successor to Kewell, but clearly they would like to get it down as soon as possible.
Casiraghi does actually have some brief coaching experience in the English game. His most recent role came in the Sky Bet Championship with Birmingham City. It was quite an unhappy experience however as he assisted Gianfranco Zola during a turbulent stint at St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium.
The ex-Lazio frontman last managed outright in 2010 when with the Italian Under-21 side.
He enjoyed an exciting career as a player, winning the UEFA Cup on two occasions with Juventus, and again with Chelsea in 1998, as well as the FA Cup the following season. In the 1994 World Cup, he was part of the Italy squad that finished as runners up to Brazil.
