Hashtag United: YouTube side win title in debut non-league season
- Published
Hashtag United secured promotion in their first season in non-league football with a game to spare
If Hashtag United are now just eight years away from the Premier League, then they already have the YouTube following to match.
A 1-1 draw with Hackney Wick on Wednesday saw the Tags secure the Eastern Counties League Division One South title in their first season in the English football pyramid.
After growing from an exhibition side, set up by YouTube star Spencer Owen in 2016, to a semi-professional outfit, promotion means Hashtag United will be playing in the ninth tier next season.
"Amazing to think where we've come in the last three years," said Owen.
"Just imagine where we could be in a few more? After all, it was imagining that got us here in the first place."
They will need their own stadium if this rise continues, having played their home games this season at Haringey Borough's 2,500-capacity Coles Park Stadium in Tottenham.
Finding the requisite backing does not look like it will be an issue though, with the club already sponsored by simulation game Football Manager and having a kit deal with Adidas.
And they have the online backing too, with 440,000 subscribers to their YouTube channel - more than every Premier League club apart from the 'big six' of Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.
Having successfully appealed before the season to be put in a league close to the company's Essex roots after initially being placed in the South Midlands system, Hashtag United will play in the Essex Senior League in step five next season.
From there, they will have to progress through one of the Isthmian League Division One leagues, the Isthmian League Premier Division, National League South and the National League before becoming a football league side.
One of their players has already made it to the football league - with 18-year-old Scott Pollock signed up by League Two side Northampton Town and making his professional debut earlier this year.