Why YouTube team Hashtag United want to go down

Owen helped grow Hashtag into a club with more than two million social media followers; This is similar to Bournemouth, the Premier League club with the smallest following.

They employ a full-time media team of 14 and produce a constant stream of content, creating an additional source of income that most clubs at their level do not have.

But the club attracts an average of just 216 fans per game to their temporary home in Aveley, Essex. According to the club, this has become a “toxic” situation and they feel they need to resolve it.

“At least right now, we’re not able to leverage the basic business model that the 100-year-old clubs in our division have, whether it’s gate revenues or food and beverage revenues,” Owen said.

He said relegation would mean a 30-40% reduction in Redbridge FC’s playing budget, with a “six-figure” reinvestment in a new permanent home at the Techsoc.Com Stadium, next to Barkingside station and easily accessible from both London and Essex.

“You can’t get more Hashtag positions,” Owen added. “This is a big change for us – creating a permanent home, a fan base.

“We had four houses. We never spent a penny driving people to games. We’ll be spending a significant amount of money on that next year.

“That’s why we have to save resources. People say: ‘You’ve raised this much money, you can definitely afford Step 3.’ Yes, we could do that, but it would hurt our business in the long run because we would have to spend fans’ money on players who do not guarantee success.

“Anyone who understands football knows it’s the smarter game. Gain ground. Build a fan base. Step back. Drop the ego. Do the right thing in the long run.

“Ideally we would have been on the field but due to our form, sponsorship situation and the opportunities we were not taking advantage of, that decision only came recently.

“We contacted the players early, a week before the registration deadline. Some of them chose to leave. But we did not cut the budget. We are still trying to win matches. Cutting the budget and dropping tanks would be immoral.”

Owen speaks with passion and disappointment after a week of criticism for calling for voluntary relegation. He has repeatedly emphasized that next season’s budget will remain the same, but will be funneled into infrastructure rather than “extortionate” fees for “left-backs or right midfielders” at Isthmian Premier League level.

“I have about 65% stake now; then I had 85-90% stake. I was not paid any fees for any of the shares I diluted,” he said. “I’ve done most of this work for free over the years.

“There’s this idea that I’ve made millions from YouTube, but I haven’t actually done it. I haven’t done anything on my channel for eight years. That’s where I used to make my money, but I put Hashtag first.”

“I’m not fighting. But the people we’re up against are guys who make a lot of money from other jobs and have fun with football. Good luck to them. But we’re not like that. We’re really self-financing.

“No one is talking about the fact that at any point in this decision we did not question the reduction of our women’s team budget. We decided to relegate our men rather than our women – how often does this happen?

“Our division will change, but there has never been a bigger change in Hashtag’s history in terms of our content and the way we try to revolutionize the matchday experience. We want to get back to Step 3, but with a bigger fan base.”