Throwback to last year, a group of 19 year old school friends chose to take over a step 6 club at non league level, making national headlines.
The lads went off to university and have become the youngest owners in football, already changing up the crest and management staff.
The club team, who was formed in 1945, had once Sir Stanley Matthews as President and as stated by SPORTbible ‘famously beat Brian Clough’s Brighton, five years before he became a European champion.’
These guys are the youngest owners in football!?
A group of 19 year old school friends have taken over Walton & Hersham.
The ‘Class of 18’ have already changed the club’s crest & management team.
The Step 6 team was formed in 1945 & once had Sir Stanley Matthews as President. pic.twitter.com/H1NupawfF8
— Ollie Bayliss (@Ollie_Bayliss) August 21, 2019
Speaking exclusively to SPORTbible, one of the new owners Sartej Tucker, said: "Alan Smith, who was the previous owner, didn't want to continue running the club and son Toby couldn't really see himself committing so much time to the club because of other commitments.
"One of my mates Calogero [Scannella- another of the owners], knows Toby personally as was telling Calogero they [Toby and Alan] didn't see themselves running the club anymore.
"So he devised this idea. He came up with a plan and we pitched to Toby Smith, the de facto chairman at the time, 'here's an idea for us to take over.
He added: "There wasn't a lightbulb moment, it was just a gradual feeling, we forged ideas of how to move our vision on and had a growing sense of confidence that we could actually make something of it, as opposed to a momentary reaction 'oh this is a great idea,' it sort of built up over time."
"Well known YouTubers with hundreds of thousands of followers" helped them with their social media, making the club's brand stand out more.
The owners, who wanted promotion this season, said: "I think the main ambition, the club haven't been performing very well for the last 5-10 years, it's suffered three relegations in 10 years," said Tucker, "There's been a lot of disinterest around the club. So for us the main thing is to re-energise the club, get people turning up to games again, get the team winning and gain promotion. Promotion is our ultimate aim, we want to return to step 5 and then we can take a view next summer of where the club goes."
They had an aim of rejuvenating its declining fortunes under a new mandate and direction, however a year on, and it's fair to say it's been one hell of a tough one to deal with, considering that the season was ended early, then the Football Association deemed leagues at Steps 3-7 null and void.
It was a decision that was criticised by Walton & Hersham director Sartej Tucker.
First team manager George Busumbru chose to step down from his role, despite his efforts, due to personal reasons.
Mr Tucker said: “The FA had no real right to do what they did without consulting any of the clubs.
“They’re risking compromising the integrity of the entire footballing structure and shooting themselves in the foot in terms of their future relationship with non-league football.
“For them this is a crucial watershed moment in that respect.
“It treats every single team with complete contempt that they haven’t consulted us at all.
“This is a rushed decision that hasn’t been thought through and we’re quite angry about the manner this has been done.”
Walton & Hersham were sitting third in Division One of the Combined Counties Football League, a spot that, if maintained, would have seen them promoted from Step 6 to 5 of the non league pyramid.
Tucker added that while the FA had sought the views of individual clubs, those conversations were not formalised and not taken into consideration.
He said: “It was testing how leagues would react and then issuing their own unilateral decision at the end of it. The conversations were a formality and there was no consultation of any substance.
“We don’t get eight/nine months into the season, just to write it off and lie down about it. It just can’t happen.
“The FA need to show some contrition for the manner in which they’ve imposed this on clubs.
“I think it’s an absolute disgrace that they’ve been able to do this without any formal consultation of the clubs whatsoever.
“I completely agree there’s more going on than football right now, but it will resume again and there is absolutely no reason why the FA has made this decision right now when we don’t know when that’s going to happen.”
The decision still needs to be ratified by the FA Council, which is set to meet the week commencing April 6, but Mr Tucker was confident that with the level of backlash the FA will be forced to rethink its plan.
He also mentioned that several unnamed clubs are consulting legal teams, though Walton & Hersham are not one of them.
Although not every club is actively against the decision, there remains some unease about the speed and unilateral nature of it.
AFC Croydon Athletic chairman Paul Smith said: “I think I would have liked the FA to take more time and consult more clubs.
“I’m not sure what the barriers to such a consultation would be to be perfectly honest.
“I’m also not sure I can see or realise what the haste would be and why this was a decision that had to be taken in March and couldn’t have been taken in April.”
But while the decision has been met by backlash in many quarters, some managers and chairmen vocally agree with the FA’s policy.
Kingstonian manager Hayden Bird said: “At our level, I can’t see how we could restart the season and if there’s no way to finish the season then the fairest outcome is to declare it null and void.
“I think this was the best outcome and it also means that we can give this season closure. We love football and we all wanted to finish the season but at our level it is only football. When you turn on the TV it pales into insignificance and we should all be mindful of that.”
An FA spokesperson said: “The decision taken to end the 2019/20 season across Steps 3-7 of the National League System, the women’s football pyramid and the wider grassroots game was made by committee representatives for the respective leagues, and was supported by The FA Board and The FA Women’s Board.
“It will now go to The FA Council for ratification. We fully support the decision they came to during these challenging and unprecedented circumstances for English football.”
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Since the decision, they have had plenty of time to build for the future, while also looking to get in some sponsorship deals, and have also got a new boss in Scott Harris, headed up by assistant Billy Rowley, as well as Max Hustwick, who joins the club in a player/coach role.
After finding out more on the new Walton & Hersham owners, fans took to give their reaction with a joke or two thrown in there - see what they tweeted by clicking on the next page.

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