by Chris Harris
I don’t share the doom and the gloom. There comes a point in every long running story when the narrative can no longer sustain the myths that once held it together. Last night’s AGM felt like that moment for Lewes FC. The numbers were bleak, the mood was flat, the optimism had drained away, and yet, maybe there is a sense that perhaps this is precisely what the club needed, a cold, honest reckoning that frees us from years of delusion and opens the door to something healthier, smaller, truer, and far more sustainable. It was grim, but it might just be the beginning of a fresh start.
A Club Preparing for Life Without Its Big Bet
The first and perhaps most sobering headline was the announcement that if the much promoted four year investment deal for the Lewes FC women’s team does not materialise imminently, the club will be forced to “dramatically reduce” playing budgets for the second half of the season. The chairman made it clear that the club would then have to be run exclusively by volunteers. If that situation comes to pass, it presumably means the COO and other paid staff would be made redundant, and the club would revert to a skeleton structure more like a struggling non-league side than the self styled pioneer of fan ownership and equality branding it has claimed to be. It was a blunt and unavoidable admission, the club has been gambling on this deal for months, and without it, there is no plan robust enough to keep things stable.
A Membership Dream That Never Arrived
The second headline was a reminder of promises that now read like satire. Four years ago, with membership around 1,700, the club confidently floated the idea that Lewes FC could surpass Barcelona’s 140,000-strong membership base. The comparison was absurd at the time. Fast forward to last night, and membership now stands at 1,600. After years of chasing international sign-ups and banking on global visibility, the number has not grown it has fallen. That is not just a financial problem; it is a cultural one. When your recruitment strategy targets people who have no connection to Lewes, no ability to attend matches, and no stake in the club’s life, of course the membership becomes fickle. It shows what I got castigated for at the time was correct, it was a stupid and unworkable strategy.
Commercial Foundations That Are Crumbling
The club’s main sponsorship deals expire at the end of this season, with a suggestion they will not be renewed. Combined with the uncertainty around the women’s investment deal and the stagnant membership, the financial picture looks bleak. Even more telling was the AGM itself: a tiny attendance, little engagement. The gulf between the glossy narratives of recent years and the reality of today could not have been starker.
The meeting did not offer a roadmap out of this crisis. Instead, it revealed a club that has reached the end of its branding, its promises, and its borrowed optimism. But beneath that, if you looked closely, was the shape of something else, something more honest.
A Chance to Rediscover Who We Really Are
But despite everything, this is not all doom and gloom. In many ways, it is the opposite. Last night’s AGM might be the moment Lewes FC finally steps out of the long shadow of Equality FC and stops pretending to be a major political or cultural force on the global stage. That era is gone, and frankly, it needed to go. Waking from the delusion is the only way to rebuild something real.
The money from Ed Ramsden is long gone. Sponsorships have evaporated. Membership and attendances are shrinking. But strip away the PR gloss and the endless hunt for headlines, and you see what actually matters. We still have a brilliant Supporters Club. We still have a thriving Football Foundation. We still have a brilliant fanbase that has endured years of drift. And we still have one of the most attractive, best-placed grounds in non-league football, right by the station and right in the heart of town. Lewes FC has a huge amount going for it. The one thing it hasn’t had is leadership willing to recognise and build on those strengths for nearly a decade.
For too long, those at the helm have been stuck in a bygone moment, the Equality FC media boom of five years ago, forever chasing another headline, another panel appearance, another award. Meanwhile, the basics of running a football club were left to rot. What we need now is far simpler: competent directors who want to run Lewes FC as a football club, not a social experiment. And the truth is, rebuilding it isn’t particularly complicated. Money is hard, yes, but with a wealthy catchment area and a credible plan, sponsorship and investment will come. What has been missing is focus, credibility, and an understanding of what the club actually is.
Rebuilding a Club That Belongs to Lewes Again
If we drop a division or two in the process, so be it. Relegation is not a death sentence. What matters is that when the club rises again, it rises on foundations that are real: supporter led, community rooted, and financially sensible. A Lewes FC that knows who it serves and what it stands for, not rehashing mistakes from the past.
And if the women’s team is ultimately signed over to external investors, it may not be the disaster some fear. If the investment is serious, the women’s programme will flourish. And for the club as a whole, it could be the first time in years that the leadership is forced to focus all its energy on the men’s team and the wider community club, rather than devoting every waking moment to the other half of the operation. That may well be the best thing that could happen right now.
For the first time in a long while, there is an opportunity, born from crisis, yes, but still an opportunity, to rediscover the real identity of this club. To leave behind the vanity projects, the hollow narratives, and the global fantasies, and return to the authenticity that made Lewes FC special in the first place. The foundations are already there: loyal supporters, a strong community, a cherished ground, and a town that wants a club to be proud of.
The only question now is whether the next set of leaders finally step up and build it. What is striking is how down in the dumps the leadership are, after years of decline there is an opportunity to build something to be proud of, the directors and their chums need to embrace the stark reality that they have led us to and come up with a Plan B, we can sulk over decline or embrace renewal and a fresh start.
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The Rights of Fans. 