Opinion: Why are Hashtag United taking voluntary relegation?

The story of the Step 3 superpower deciding that enough is enough

 

Hashtag United celebrated their 10-year anniversary last week

 

“I have never been more certain and more positive about the direction of this club than I am right now”, reads a statement from Hashtag United founder and CEO, YouTuber Spencer Owen.

“We have requested that our men’s team step down from the Isthmian Premier Division at the end of the 2025/26 season”, it continues.

Wait, what?

The Tags currently sit 18^th in the Isthmian League Premier Division with six matches to play

 

A bit of background on Hashtag United, if you’ve been living under a rock. Founded as a YouTube football team by Owen in 2016, with players initially consisting of friends and relatives of the founder. Eventually the club branched out and entered Step 6 of non-league in 2018, becoming the team that everyone loved to hate.

They won the league in their first season and two more promotions resulted in the club first entering the Isthmian Premier Division in 2023 – they have secured respectable finishes of 13^th and 8^th in their two full seasons in Step 3 thus far.

This season has been a struggle on the pitch, though. The Tags currently sit outside the relegation zone by a point, having by far their worst season since entering league football.

So why voluntary relegation now, even when relegation by virtue of finishing in the relegation places seems a veritable possibility?

Owen goes on to say that football has become ruled by money, which is not an unreasonable statement, and it’s clear that he believes that clubs at Step 3 are forced to spend beyond their means, whether it’s spending money on a player’s wages, or simply organising travel or other expenses for the team.

The reality is this – Hashtag United are one of the most well-equipped Step 3 teams in the country – but are structurally insecure. They’ve been collecting sponsorship deals with huge companies even before they started playing league football – the likes of EE, Football Manager, TGI Friday’s and UFL have all parted with cash to appear on the front of the yellow and blue shirts. They even launched a kit deal with Adidas.

 

The Hashtag United 2025/26 Home Shirt, sponsored by UFL

 

But being ‘rich for the level’ does not automatically mean ‘financially safe’. The costs of running a club like Hashtag United are very high for a club of that level, higher than a typical Step 3 club.

They are in a semi-professional league where away travel is much further than the more localised leagues that they worked their way up from – gone are the days of trips to fellow Essex clubs; instead they are now forking out for trips to Chichester and Burgess Hill on a Tuesday night.

They have been paying for groundshare agreements since their inception: at Haringey Borough, Tilbury, Bowers & Pitsea and now Aveley, and have already announced an agreement to use Redbridge’s Oakside Stadium from next season.

While lots of their matchday staff are volunteers, Hashtag employ a high number of specialised staff – people to help with filming, editing, content production, social media management, marketing and operations. They are unique in that sense – they have a media team rivalling that of an EFL side.

It makes sense that they should have such a high-quality media team – but it comes at a cost given that every one of these staff members receive payment from the club – more so than matchday volunteers such as stewards and bar staff.

And even for leagues like the Isthmian Premier League, prize money is limited. It’s safe to assume that prize money for a mid-table league position, which they have been achieving in Step 3, would struggle to pay for the extra expenditure.

 

Hashtag United will be playing home matches at Redbridge’s Oakside Stadium from July 2026

 

Owen’s underlying argument is that football encourages clubs to overspend to compete – and if that means not competing at the highest possible level, so be it. Refusing to play the game that the FA wants them to play – pushing clubs into risky financial behaviour – is a bold move.

It begs the question: are other Step 3 clubs silently suffering, and are afraid to take action in the same way that Hashtag are?

Hashtag United clearly don’t believe that Step 3 is a financially sensible place to be in the long-term – even for them – but where they end up next is anyone’s guess.

Usually for voluntary relegation, the default outcome is dropping a single step – in Hashtag’s case, back to Step 4. But the FA has discretion, and in some cases clubs can drop further if the governing body has serious financial concerns. But this seems unlikely, given what has been said publicly.

Step 4 would bring significantly reduced travel costs and lower wages for players, while still ensuring that the club has enough to be competitive.

 

"This is not a relegation, it's a revolution", was the message from Owen's statement.

This is a controlled reset, not a complete collapse – but it may say more about the state of non-league football than it does about Hashtag United.

It may seem counter-intuitive to an outsider, but if one of the best-resourced clubs at Step 3 is choosing to step back, the question isn’t why they’re doing it – it’s how many others are quietly facing the same reality.