BABIES ON BOARD

Walton & Hersham were on their knees before a group of teenagers made the mad decision to acquire the club in 2019 – now, with the help of the ‘Non-league Erling Haaland’, they’re targeting the National League

- Dean Jones

Calogero Scannella was 19 years old when he first texted his mates about buying a football club.

It took a bit of convincing, but now Walton & Hersham – who will play in the English pyramid’s seventh tier next season – have the youngest owners in the world and are creating a media buzz unlike anything else in the game. They have amassed more than a million TikTok followers and established a fanbase touching every corner of the globe, with thousands tuning in each matchday.

“We deluded ourselves into thinking we knew what we were getting ourselves into, but we actually had no clue,” Scannella tells FFT. “Luckily it’s going pretty well, but every six months we’ll have a chat and say, ‘How the hell have we managed this?’”

It’s taken dedication, desire and countless unpaid hours, but the Swans are flying: they secured a third promotion on the spin by winning April’s play-off final against Hamworth Villa, and global viewings of single matches have reached a peak of 300,000. This was a club staring at extinction only four years ago, but thanks to a group of teenagers with lofty ambitions and a nothing-to-lose mentality, the sky’s the limit.

“We had to be mad to think it would go anywhere,” says Scannella. “If we were 50 we wouldn’t have had the energy to do it. We’ve used age to our advantage.”

Scannella, club secretary and director of football, is aided by Sartej Tucker, Thomas Bradbury and Jack Newton, with Reme Edetanlen, Stephan Karidis and Ben Madelin no longer part of the original party of pals to buy the club (bottom left).