THERE IS NO HIDING PLACE!
EVERY week, Hashtag United manager Jay Devereux scrolls through the comments section of his team’s YouTube channel.
“I saw one a while back that compared one of our lads to Harry Maguire,” he laughs. “And it was supposed to be an insult! You’re talking about an England international, an elite level player. For us, it isn’t even a full-time job.
“Other days, they get compared to a Premier League footballer and fans of pro clubs come on going ‘Why is he not playing for us?’. It’s the rough with the smooth, isn’t it?”
And an apt metaphor for the unique challenge of managing Hashtag. Born on the YouTube channel of founder and CEO Spencer Owen, the Tags have evolved from a touring novelty act into a thriving Step 4 club in barely half a decade.
Physical crowds hover in the low hundreds but their global fanbase is vast, with around eight million YouTube views per month – more than Everton, Celtic and AC Milan.
Everything – team talks, training, games – is streamed live. And Devereux watches every single minute.
“All of it,” says the 46-yearold, who took charge when Hashtag entered the pyramid in 2018 and subsequently guided the club from the Eastern Counties League to their current perch in Isthmian North.
“Partly, it’s an educational tool. I get access to the unedited team talks and I can use that to see what worked and what didn’t. Did I get the tone right? Did I make the right calls?
Faceless
“Mainly, though, it’s to protect my players. Most clubs at this level get crowds of 200 or 300, and within that you might have one or two shout out and make a noise. Us, we’re out there and it’s open for the whole world to come and comment. The vast majority of viewers are only seeing things online and haven’t got a realistic grasp of the level we’re at. So if they’re not taking chances like Mo Salah or Harry Kane, they’re battered for it.
“Because it’s faceless, both the praise and the criticism are quite extreme. I actually think it gives them a small insight into what players at the higher levels have to deal with.
“The difference is that in the Premier League, they’re professionals. They’re accustomed to criticism and trained to deal with it. Our guys are part-time players.
“Some won’t read it, and that’s great. That’s probably the best approach. But lots of them do because they’re normal, inquisitive guys who want to know what’s being said. My job is to know what they’re seeing – good and bad – so I can manage it.”
Devereux, a former Dagenham & Redbridge midfielder with extensive coaching experience in Non-League, is keen to play down the singularity of Hashtag’s approach.
“I’m still a manager like any other at this level, trying to achieve the same things,” he insists. “Same pressures. Same players. Same ambitions.
“The difference is that there’s always something going on. The publicity, the social media and the interaction that comes with that. The cameras and being mic’d up. The club tries to tell a real-time story across the season, and that’s the unique part of it.
“You see what goes on behind the football a lot more than at other clubs. Within that there are certain things I have to do that you wouldn’t see anywhere else at our level.”
Devereux, whose team talks are all available to watch online, embraces the exposure but says nobody at the club is forced to gurn for the cameras.
“When we’re talking to players, some will be a little bit reticent because they don’t know what it entails,” he explains.
“There’s an assumption that because the cameras are there they’ll be expected to perform, but that’s not the case. It’s like any walk of life – you’ve got extroverts who love the limelight and others who are a little bit more withdrawn. If you just want to play your football in the background, that’s fine – we don’t put any pressure or expectation on people.
Perception
“What you’ve got to remember is that this isn’t a fly-onthe-wall documentary, so it can’t really be compared to something like the All or Nothing series. That’s an external company coming in and those clubs don’t have complete control over what goes out. Our guys work for the club and want the same things that we do. They’re part of the team.
“They wouldn’t put anything out that shows anybody in a bad light. If anything takes place that I’m not 100 per cent comfortable with then I’ll say ‘Look, I don’t think that’s right for the public domain’. They’ve always respected that.
“We’re very careful to respect the people in the changing room so that the players don’t feel that they’re being exposed. We’re not there to make fools of people.”
So what’s next for Hashtag United? Having won promotion in every season it was possible to do so (Covid curtailed a couple), last season saw the Tags finish eighth, ten points adrift of the play-offs.
“Again, it’s about people understanding the level,” says Devereux. “There’s an outside perception that we should be winning promotion every year.
“We know the reality is far from that. We knew that when we got to a certain level, that’s when the upward curve would start to flatten. The standard is a lot tougher. There are more demands on the club. It’s a huge, huge step.
“Our ambition is to keep improving. We want to earn promotions. But we’ve only been a Non-League club for four years and it’s important that we can walk before we try to run.”