Having sold 40 per cent of influencer marketing agency Goat in 2021, Harry Hugo had made his fortune at 26 – and he realised that, by the age of 30, he would have the rare luxury of financial independence.
So, by his own admission, he was chasing “instant gratification” moments. But he also knew he needed to find a purpose.
One day, he and his friends, who had worked with him since he started his first business at age 16, visited a Ferrari garage. He had his eyes on a 458 Spyder in black.
“My mate asked me why I was considering buying it,” he tells Sky Sports.
“My only answer was that it would be fun. That wasn’t a good enough answer, so I challenged my mates to come up with something that would provide as much fun for the money.
“The first suggestion was, ‘Why don’t we buy a football club?’ – and I thought that was quite a good idea!”
The group built a matrix to rank the non-League clubs within a 50-mile radius of his home. Leatherhead ranked highest, so Hugo followed the Tanners – then in the Isthmian Premier Division, one below the National League South – for six months.
Hugo sold 40 per cent of influencer marketing agency Goat in 2021 and the remainder two years later (Image: LJP Photos)
When he met the board, he says, there was scepticism. I get that, first, it’s unusual for a young guy to want to go and spend loads of money on a football club, and, second, there have been a lot of negative stories in non-league football, where people have put loads of money in and then walked away.
Hugo was left deflated when a deal to take over did not materialise, yet he soon realised his love was for non-league football in general and “the raw emotion, the old-school nature of football in its purest form”, not for Leatherhead.
Town takeover leads to back-to-back-to-back
Number two on the matrix was Farnham Town. Hugo grew up locally and attended school in the town, about 11 miles from Guildford, Surrey, so there was a tie-in. The only downside? They were another two tiers down the pyramid.
But the board were instantly receptive and a deal was completed within five weeks.
Soon, the reality of what he had inherited became clear.
“When we walked in, it cannot be understated how shit it was here,” he says, overlooking the pitch at The Memorial Ground, which is looking in excellent condition despite the intense recent heatwaves.
“It was the clubhouse, a stand behind the goal… and that was it. A concrete block wall around the side of the pitch and a fence across the top. I was embarrassed to bring my wife down here!”
Today, it is almost difficult to believe it is the same stadium. But more on that shortly; to understand why this is the case, we must look at Farnham’s incredible rise, led on the pitch by manager Paul Johnson.
In 2022/23, Hugo’s first season, Farnham finished sixth in the Combined Counties Premier Division South.
In 2023/24, they won that same division with 108 points.
In 2024/25, they also won the Isthmian South Central Division, finishing with 102 points.
Paul Johnson has been in charge of Farnham Town since November 2022 (Image: LJP Photos)
And in 2025/26, they finished second to Walton & Hersham in the Southern League Premier Division South before beating Gloucester City 5-1 in the play-off final to reach the National League South.
Before Hugo’s arrival, the club had never played above the ninth tier of English football. They will be competing in the sixth tier during the 2026/27 season.
Wrexham links and the value of socials
Naturally, there have been comparisons to Wrexham, who are the most high-profile example of a club achieving three back-to-back promotions, from the National League to the Sky Bet Championship.
“I’m fine with that!” says Hugo, with a laugh.
“Like them, we also care about media, brands, images and experiences, and the biggest thing is they brought people up; they made more National League and EFL teams look at themselves and think they could be doing it.
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While the Red Dragons have their Disney+ series ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, Farnham produce ‘Non-League Diaries’, which is released weekly on YouTube.
Hugo harnessed his connections to get social media collective The Sidemen to sponsor the team in his first season, while last September, the club went viral after former Liverpool and England striker Peter Crouch walked out as a mascot as a forfeit for losing his Fantasy Football League.
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Due to a forfeit, Peter Crouch agreed to become Farnham Town’s mascot – and he drew a record attendance for the non-league side!
From 2023 until earlier this summer, Love Island runner-up Harry Cooksley was a key member of the squad and, on TikTok, they boast over 150,000 followers.
“Social media is huge commercially, from a fan engagement and brand-awareness perspective. It’s weird, the number of people who know about Farnham Town,” Hugo adds.
Harry Cooksley (left) of Love Island fame played a key role in Farnham’s rise (Image: LJP Photos)
“They might not have ever come, but they know Crouchy walked out in a full kit as a mascot or we won the play-off final 5-1, or we hold the British record for the most wins in a row in a league campaign. Other clubs have done things like it, but they can’t get the message out; they can’t tell the story.
“We’ve done a really good job of doing that and it’s been a major focus because it’s my background. It’s the perfect distribution channel that allows us to tell that story.”
Rapid rise forces need for rapid growth
Online, some accuse him of just throwing money at it. He accepts that the criticism was “a legitimate point” in his second year, when getting out of the ninth tier became imperative.
“People who keep the lights on do a wonderful job and make sure these non-league football clubs exist; then there are the people who are trying to push it forward. That’s a positive thing for everybody,” he says.
“Farnham’s success on and off the pitch, achieved for the first time, drives everybody to be better.” People have gone from hating us to admiring us because they’ve seen someone who is genuinely invested in the club and wants to do it sustainably for the long term.
“I don’t hide in a corporate box and I genuinely love football. I’m Farnham’s number one fan and the chairman’s second. I have never been an anxious person, but I dislike the 90 minutes because it means so much to me, which is why I do commentary. It’s like therapy to me because I’m so nervous!”
Farnham’s rise on the pitch has put a welcome strain on Hugo and those off it. Each promotion has brought a nine-month deadline for the club to bring their stadium up to the requirements for that level. The official capacity is currently 2,300, but by March 31, 2027, it needs to be 3,000.
But they have not focused solely on that this summer. There are impressive new stands, but the whole club has received a makeover of the highest order. The transformation is striking.
“It’s constant money, but also planning. I love that, but I think it’s critical for people to understand it’s not just about winning on the pitch,” Hugo says.
“There’s so much you have to think about off the pitch if you’re as successful as we’ve been. It’s not just about throwing money at it; it’s about being strategic.
“The nice thing is we’re going to have brought a fanbase through that takes nothing for granted because they’ve seen where we’ve come from. Hopefully everyone comes down to support the football club because we’re going to need to put a lot of cash back in the coffers with the work we’ve done.”
On the financial side, Hugo is incredibly transparent on social media. He often posts details on X, highlighting the importance of the spend-per-head metric. Why?
“Because moving the dial from an average attendance of 1,000 to 1,500 is disproportionately harder than getting someone to spend £18, not £15, inside the ground. Once you get someone in and you give them opportunities to spend, that is way easier than trying to get someone brand new in.
“That’s not necessarily about putting prices up, but more about giving them opportunities to spend on better things.
“That metric has improved massively since we’ve been involved, without the ticket prices going up much at all. We offer a low-cost day out.
The EFL is no longer just a pipe dream
Farnham’s rise has been so quick that it is difficult to believe they are only two promotions from Sky Bet League Two. The ambition to get there is significant – and growing.
“The biggest thing that drives me is that Surrey doesn’t have an EFL team. That’s ridiculous,” says Hugo. How does one of the most affluent counties, so close to London, not have one of the 92 EFL teams?!
Woking and Sutton are in the league above us; when we started, Sutton was in the EFL, and we were in step five. Now there’s one league between us. Who’s to say Farnham can’t get in ahead of all the others? Three years ago, I didn’t even consider that.
“We know how to get promotions. I know it takes everything, so much that people don’t see, but we can stand up and say we think we can get to the EFL, and we’ve proved we know how to do it, though we know it’s going to get harder.
We will obviously try to get promoted again this season because that’s in our nature, but would it be the end of the world if we didn’t? Absolutely not. But we’ve only ever been promoted, so it will feel weird if we reach the end of the season without a pitch invasion!
“Some clubs will go through a chairman’s lifetime and never have one – we’ve had four in four years. I’m fine with our pitch not being invaded this year! It means we’d have time to figure out our facility and get it ready to be National League and EFL-ready.
A long journey undoubtedly lies ahead, but it would take a brave person to bet against Hugo and Farnham, who have already changed perceptions of what a modern non-League club can be.
Several years on from that day in the Ferrari garage, it is certainly fair to say Farnham’s young chairman has found the purpose he was seeking.
