TikTok sensations Walton & Hersham FC are hoping their overwhelming social media following will soon be reflected by their ticket sales as they prepare for life back in the Pitching In Isthmian League.

Walton & Hersham are home to the youngest football club owners in the world, with school friends Jack Newton, Calogero Scannella, Sartej Tucker, Thomas Bradbury, Ben Madelin, Stephan Karidi and Reme Edetanlen all just 19 years of age when they pooled together their student loans to purchase the Surrey non-league outfit in 2019.

Since their daring decision to acquire the club, the Swans have witnessed rapid progression both on and off the pitch, achieving two promotions in three years, as well as amassing an astonishing 750,000 followers on TikTok – giving the non-league club a higher following than six Premier League clubs.

After achieving promotion to the Pitching In Isthmian South Central Division last season, club secretary Calogero Scannella is relishing the challenge of playing football at Step 4 of the English football pyramid, believing the club are back to where they belong.

“I’m buzzing,” Scannella said. “I think we’re all buzzing.”

“Our first objective was to get back into the Isthmian League, because, no disrespect, but a club with the history that we have, it didn’t really belong in a league like the Combined Counties or Step 5 and below.

“This is a club that have taken 40,000 to Wembley. It was really sad to see where it was when we first took over, but to be back in the Isthmian League is brilliant, and we just can’t wait to get started and see how it goes from now.”

The Swans launched their 2022/23 campaign with a 4-0 win over Kennington in the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup and now face FA Vase runners-up Littlehampton Town in the preliminary round, and Scannella is hopeful that his club will experience the magic of the cup this season.

He added: “The FA Cup is a great chance to get that community excited about football.

“Just a couple rounds in that competition, we’ve seen what it can do before – look at league competitors Chertsey Town in the FA competitions.

“They won the Vase, and you saw their crowd numbers soared the season after. They’ve managed to hold onto those numbers even throughout last season, and going into this season, they’ll have a massive fanbase.

“It [the FA Cup] definitely helps, on the community side of it and the social media buzz around it, it is always a highlight, and we definitely saw that last year when we got through a few rounds. We’ll just have to see won’t we.”

Despite their spectacular social media presence and resulting established online brand, Scannella insists that the true force behind the club was in fact the local community, especially regarding volunteering.

“Volunteers are invaluable,” Scannella said.

“This season we have made some additions to our volunteer staff, because after going up a level, all around the ground there’s four or five new jobs that we really need to crack down on.

“With a fan base that’s growing like ours, I think there were enough people in the community that did reach out to us and want to get involved, so that’s brilliant.

“We are still looking for volunteers. This is the first time we’ve put out a statement saying that we need volunteers, because it’s getting to that stage where we need extra help.

On the value of volunteers, he continued: “We’ve got dedicated individuals that are so selfless, and they really do turn up week in week out without expecting anything in return and they help out the club.

“For them, we try to make them know how much they are appreciated.”

To try and combat club-wide strain for non-league sides, the Isthmian League is in partnership with Pitching In, who this summer launched their Volunteer Hub which encourages football fans to undertake roles at their local clubs.