Former Portsmouth title-winner and Brighton and Blackburn coach departs Crawley - after 36 days

The 61-year-old joined manager Matthew Etherington’s backroom team in December, quitting Worthing in favour of a return to the Football League.

However, Etherington was sacked just two weeks later, leaving Crawley searching for a third permanent boss of the season.

That position was filled earlier this month, with Scott Lyndsey arriving from League Two rivals Swindon.

Yet Keeley has opted not to remain under the new regime, with Crawley insisting he ‘opted to leave the club due to ongoing external commitments’.

The highly-regarded goalkeeping coach spent two spells at Fratton Park, most recently returning ahead of the 2016-17 season under Paul Cook.

Challenged to resolve a problematic goalkeeping problem, he helped recruit David Forde from Millwall on a season-long loan.

Having subsequently won the League Two title in May 2017, Cook and three of his staff left for Wigan, but Keeley remained under Kenny Jackett.

His time at Pompey ended in May 2021, leaving with Joe Gallen and Jake Wigley following Danny Cowley’s permanent appointment as head coach after an interim period.

The former Brighton keeper then reunited with Cook at Ipswich, only to be dismissed along with the ex-Blues boss in December 2021.

Since then he has worked in non-league at the Hawks and Worthing, while opened a specialist goalkeeping school in Worthing in January 2022.

Keeley, who remains a popular and highly-respected coach in the game, replaced Dave Coles as Pompey’s goalkeeping coach in 2010.

He had previously spent three seasons working within the Blues’ Academy, before elevated into the first-team under Steve Cotterill.

Keeley left the first time in 2013 to reunite with ex-manager Michael Appleton at Championship Blackburn, before working for Brighton and Chinese club Guangzhou R&F.

Then, in July 2016, he was back at Fratton Park after replacing Scott Bevan, forming part of a backroom team which would help Pompey return to League One.

Now he has quit Crawley who, under owners Wagmi United, are presently fourth from bottom in League Two and without a win in four matches.