Hashtag United ask to be relegated from non-league division as statement issued

Hashtag United have formally requested to be relegated from Step 3 of non-league football at the end of the season, it has been announced.

Hashtag was officially formed in 2016 by online content creator Spencer Owen, and gained cult status among fans of his YouTube channel.

Their channel currently has 672,000 subscribers, making it one of the most popular football club channels across English football.

The club successfully applied to join the English non-league football pyramid in 2018, and won three promotions in five seasons under new manager Jay Devereux. Owen stepped down as CEO in November 2025.

Hashtag also have a women's side who currently play in the third tier of the pyramid. They won the FA Women's National League Cup, contested by teams below the top two tiers, in 2024.

For the last three seasons, the men's side has played in the Isthmian League Premier Division - part of the step directly below the National League system.

They finished in eighth place last season and reached the third round of the FA Vase, but this campaign has been more of a struggle and they sit just a single place above the relegation zone.

Hashtag had lost seven of their last eight matches in the league, but got back to winning ways on Saturday with a 3-1 win away at Canvey Island.

They have been ground-sharing with Aveley FC since 2024, before announcing in January that they were set to move to Redbridge FC's home stadium from the 2026/27 campaign - a move the club described as being 'an ideal platform for Hashtag United's next chapter'.

Now, the Isthmian League have issued a statement confirming that they have received a 'written request' from Hashtag themselves to relegate the club from Step 3 at the end of the season, regardless of where they finish in the table.

"The Isthmian League has received a written request from Hashtag United FC for the club to be relegated from Step 3 whether or not the club finishes in a relegation position," the statement begins.

"The club has also notified The Football Association of its request and it is The FA which will make the final decision on the request.

"The league is not in a position to make a clear statement as to what will happen but the usual situation where a club resigns during a season is that the club is treated as a relegated club and the club finishing fourth from bottom is reprieved.

"However, as stated, this decision can only be made by The FA and we will notify clubs as soon as that decision has been made and communicated to us."

Hashtag United release statement

While Hashtag did not initially release a public response to the Isthmian League's announcement, they have since issued a lengthy statement through founder Spencer Owen.

Posted to their Instagram page, it reads in part: "We have requested that our men's team step down from the Isthmian Premier Division at the end of the 2025/26 season.

"We told the players at the earliest possible opportunity, so they could make decisions about their own futures before the registration deadline.

"Typically, the done thing here would be to cut the budget and release players, often after the deadline, leaving them without income for the rest of the season.

"We wouldn't do that. We aren't cutting our budget and we aren't releasing anyone that wants to stay.

"Our aim is to avoid finishing in the bottom four spots and make this purely an administrative move. I will never go to a Hashtag game not wanting us to win. It's just not in my nature. We are going down swinging and smiling.

"Make no mistake, this is our decision. Nobody has made us do it. We are choosing this because, after a long time thinking, we believe it gives us the best possible foundation for what comes next."

Owen continued: "Football's governance is lacking. The finances are unsustainable at every level.

"The rules no longer prioritise what made people fall in love with the game in the first place. It's become a victim of its own success and, in too many places, sold to the highest bidder.

"There's no denying this year has been tough on the pitch. The reality is we're about where we should be given our budget, in a landscape of unprecedented spending in the seventh tier. Call it the Wrexham effect, if you like.

"We want to have the best players we can and play at the highest level possible, but not at the cost of our staff's jobs and not at the cost of us being able to continue our mission of innovating and changing the game.

"This season has come with a big learning curve for us and I've seen that even our club isn't immune from the fact that trying new things doesn't go down well if you're losing regularly.

"We have to have a budget that makes us competitive next year, because we'll be trying A LOT of things."

He concluded by stating: "Relegation is a dirty word in football, and rightly so.

"It typically leads to a loss of jobs and dark times. We are the exception to that rule. Moving to Step 4 will mean significant budgetary savings that will be reinvested into other key parts of the business at a crucial time, including employing MORE people while we significantly invest in building home attendances at our new ground. This could be the best thing that ever happened to us, at the perfect time.

"This is not a relegation. It is a revolution."