FA Trophy draw today

[redblueuptoyou]

Aren’t the Sidemen involved with Farnham Town in some capacity? Maybe we need to find some influencers etc to partner with?

[lowerbourneshot]

It’s probably some pathetic internet club that basically needs to cease to exist

They are a proper football club (Now) and have actually done quite well with 4 promotions in the 6 or 7 years since they entered a team into Non League. They were originally a You Tube club that toured around the world providing celebrity matches but then they got interest from an ex Chelsea player who invested in them and they then joined down in the low levels of non league. They are now in the Isthmian Premier

No club can EVER be a "Proper club" if they did not exist in the Football League before 1977.

Well that rules us out then

[Sean Chambers]

Aren’t the Sidemen involved with Farnham Town in some capacity? Maybe we need to find some influencers etc to partner with?

https://www.tubefilter.com/2022/10/05/f ... p-england/

[hepcat]

They are a proper football club (Now) and have actually done quite well with 4 promotions in the 6 or 7 years since they entered a team into Non League. They were originally a You Tube club that toured around the world providing celebrity matches but then they got interest from an ex Chelsea player who invested in them and they then joined down in the low levels of non league. They are now in the Isthmian Premier

No club can EVER be a "Proper club" if they did not exist in the Football League before 1977.

No doubt you chose 1977 as your cut-off because that's when Wimbledon were elected to replace Workington. But why?

I'm hazarding a guess that he meant 1987 which was when automatic promotion/relegation begun from the Conference to the FL and vice versa.
Not really a fair point IMO-a lot of strong non league sides were denied entry to the FL by the old re=election system ,and would anyone class Wycombe Wanderers as a fake club simply because they gained promotion to the FL and haven't done that badly in trhe 30 odd years they've remained a FL club (and to put it into perspective-painful as it is-they have done far better than AFC ever did 1926 to 92 /ATFC 1992-present-and there are a more than a few promoted "Fake clubs" since '87 that can boast the same over us!)) Why shouldn't a well run club take the place of a basket case on merit ?
Interestingly-Workington were in the league for 25 years before being de elected and their replacement -the old WFC -lasted about the same time in the league before their controversial demise ! But-AGAIN-would anyone deny that WFC achieved a lot more coming up from the Southern League-than all the long standing "Real" clubs before them ? Would they be one of the promoted fake clubs if automatic promotion/relegation existed pre '87?

[Richard Petty]

They are a proper football club (Now) and have actually done quite well with 4 promotions in the 6 or 7 years since they entered a team into Non League. They were originally a You Tube club that toured around the world providing celebrity matches but then they got interest from an ex Chelsea player who invested in them and they then joined down in the low levels of non league. They are now in the Isthmian Premier

No club can EVER be a "Proper club" if they did not exist in the Football League before 1977.

Hashtag United are one of the top two or three most viewed non-league sides online, and have driven a serious revenue line through doing so. To their credit they also run women's and youth sections, from memory the women are Step Three. Given the increasing monetisation of women's football, and the big financial step up from mens step two to three, it's possible both teams have topped out at their current level.

The world is changing. Whether we view it as for the better is ultimately irrelevant to football clubs, who need to move with the times and exploit the new revenue possibilities as the like of Hashtag and SEDons do. They have proven it can be done in non-league.

How many people spotted The Sidemen sold out Wembley for a charity match inside three hours, with 140k queueing for tickets when it sold out, this week? Throw in the known stats about changing consumption models for sport for the younger generations, and clubs who just plod on the tried and trusted ( and frankly failing) manner risk a seriously nasty surprise.

I'm old enough to be totally bemused by Hashtag but accept they have much to teach many other clubs. I'm not suggesting more traditional clubs move all but fully on line, as Hashtag have, but they need to look at integrating some of the learnings into into their business model.

Unless the Premier League can be persuaded to dish out more of its TV money, it's clear lower level TV revenues are only going to decline. Why wouldn't you want to learn from Hashtag, who are believed to earn more revenue from as live broadcasts of Saturday matches - shown after the blackout period expires - than at the gate? Is that really a revenue stream clubs can dismiss as pathetic internet rubbish? The state of most Conference clubs accounts suggests not.

Excellent post Roger and thank you for providing the additional information/background. Every "Proper club" as some people refer to them as had to start sometime, just because its in the 21st Century rather than the 20th Century doesn't make them any less valid as a club.

You are right about their women's team, they are very successful, I was actually aware of that as there was an interesting article online about them a few moths back documenting their rapid rise. They are currently second in the National Premier League which is as you say the 3rd tier and are currently above clubs like Watford, Wimbledon, Oxford United, Plymouth, Exeter to name just a few. If they get promotion they will be in the Women's Championship which would be a massive achievement for a team that only formed in 2020.

Regarding the TV Blackout period covering 3pm kick off games its about time that outdated rule was changed.

[Old Bob]

No club can EVER be a "Proper club" if they did not exist in the Football League before 1977.

No doubt you chose 1977 as your cut-off because that's when Wimbledon were elected to replace Workington. But why?

I'm hazarding a guess that he meant 1987 which was when automatic promotion/relegation begun from the Conference to the FL and vice versa.
Not really a fair point IMO-a lot of strong non league sides were denied entry to the FL by the old re=election system ,and would anyone class Wycombe Wanderers as a fake club simply because they gained promotion to the FL and haven't done that badly in trhe 30 odd years they've remained a FL club (and to put it into perspective-painful as it is-they have done far better than AFC ever did 1926 to 92 /ATFC 1992-present-and there are a more than a few promoted "Fake clubs" since '87 that can boast the same over us!)) Why shouldn't a well run club take the place of a basket case on merit ?
Interestingly-Workington were in the league for 25 years before being de elected and their replacement -the old WFC -lasted about the same time in the league before their controversial demise ! But-AGAIN-would anyone deny that WFC achieved a lot more coming up from the Southern League-than all the long standing "Real" clubs before them ? Would they be one of the promoted fake clubs if automatic promotion/relegation existed pre '87?

Some very good points, Hep. I guess only Accurate Shot will know if he meant 1977 or 1987.