Crawley Town have announced that Tobi “TBJZL” Brown — a founding member of YouTube group The Sidemen — will join the club for training.
The League Two outfit, who sent scouts to watch last month's Sidemen FC charity match as part of WAGMI United’s recent partnership with The Sidemen, have also invited Tobi's brothers, Manny Brown and Jed Brown, to the session on November 1.
If they do impress, the trio could be included in the team for Crawley's upcoming FA Cup match against Accrington Stanley on November 5.
The FA’s bylaws dictate that any player who has formally registered as part of a club is eligible to be named to the squad and potentially compete in FA Cup matches.
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Crawley say they remain "fully committed" to winning their first-round match against Accrington Stanley and look forward to the possibility of Tobi, Manny and Jed joining their team on a trial basis for training and the matchday experience.
The Red Devils are also keen to introduce the club to millions of potential new supporters in the process and they'll certainly do that based on Tobi – and The Sidemen's – huge online presence.
Tobi co-founded the Sidemen with his best friends in 2013 and since, the lads have created a community of 17 million subscribers on their main channel. SidemenReacts is also close to reaching 5 million subs at the time of writing.
Preston Johnson, the co-chairman of Crawley Town, has commented on the decision to invite Tobi and his brothers to training and possibly beyond.
“We’re excited to have Tobi, Manny and Jed joining us for training on Tuesday, and we’re looking forward to seeing what they can bring to the club," he told the club's official website.
"Depending on how they perform, we may extend offers to continue training with the lads on a trial basis and potentially compete for a spot on the bench for the Accrington Stanley match.
"As we’ve said before, it’s fairly unlikely they’d get on the pitch unless the game is well in hand, but we want to give them the opportunity to show Lewis and the staff what they can do in training and then go from there.”
Tobi, who boasts more than 13 million combined followers across all his major online platforms, was a standout performer in last month's Sidemen FC charity match.
He combined with his brother to score three of Sidemen FC’s eight goals in the 8-7 win against the YouTube Allstars.
Manny Brown, meanwhile, has almost five million combined followers in his own right. The 26-year-old plays alongside his brothers at Woolwich and Eltham Sunday Football Alliance side Under The Radar FC and posts highlights to his YouTube channel on a regular basis.
You can see a compilation of Tobi's performance in the Sidemen FC charity match below. Does he get a contract at Crawley Town based off these highlights? You can be the judge of that.
Crawley have previous when it comes to inviting high-profile celebrities to play for the club. Last year, former TOWIE star Mark Wright signed for the League Two outfit, and even made a substitute appearance against Leeds in the FA Cup.
In an Instagram post, Wright revealed his pride at coming on in the final three minutes.
"A day I will never forget!" he wrote in January 2021. "Today at 33, after much hard work and hours of extra training to make it possible, even if it was for a few minutes, I made my professional debut against the giants Leeds United."
Wright was released from the club five months after his debut.
Topics: League Two, YouTube
Jack Kenmare