The2010–11 season was the 61st season in whichCrawley Town played senior football, and their seventh in theFootball Conference. On 1 July 2010, following a number of signings, the club held a press conference to declare their intentions for the coming season. They confirmed that the club had cleared £1,000,000 of debt and was now debt-free, and that Bruce Winfield has bought the shareholding formerly held by the Prospect Estates group. On 9 April, Crawley won the Conference National, beating Tamworth 3–0, and by doing this they will be a Football League club for the first time in their history.
Prior to the beginning of the season, the club spent around £600,000 on players, signing the likes ofMatt Tubbs fromSalisbury City,Sergio Torres fromPeterborough United andRichard Brodie fromYork City for a non-league record fee, financed in part by anonymous Far Eastern investors.[1][2] The club saw success in the league losing just thrice all season[2] before being promoted to theFootball League for the first time in their history on 9 April 2011 following a 3–0 victory away toTamworth.[3][4] They finished top of the league on 105 points, a division record.[2] The club also saw success in theFA Cup, reaching the fifth round of the competition before being eliminated by eventualPremier League champions and FA Cup semi-finalistsManchester United.[5]
In 2017, football magazineFourFourTwo rated the Crawley Town team of the 2010–11 season the 21st most hated team of all time in British football, as a result of the club's significant financial backing and their unpopular managerSteve Evans, who was found guilty of tax evasion at his previous clubBoston United.[6] Due to the club's significant financial backing from anonymous foreign investors, they were referred to as the 'Manchester City' of non-league football.[7][8] The anonymous owner was later revealed to be Hong-Kong-based Paul Hayward.[2]