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We are Hampton and Richmond. We've been here for more than 100 years established before Apple TV and Ted Lasso
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There's certain values and a way of doing things that we will never cross, regardless of the potential benefit one could imagine
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Yeah, we are the real Teflassso team. There's no other team in Richmond. AFC Richmond announced the hiring of their new manager American football coach Ted Lasso
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You're an American who's now in charge of a football club despite possessing very little knowledge of the game
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You've probably heard of Ted Lassau, the smash hit TV show. Well, we're here today at the real AFC Richmond, Hampton and Richmond Borough FC
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And we're going to be shown around by the owners, the Petritso Brothers. Welcome to the Beveray. Come on over
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Hampton and Richmond, Barrett, FC are the closest thing to a real-life Ted Lassow team
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One of the things that we did as soon as we joined the club is actually realized that we play a pivotal and crucial role in the community
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and we want to expand out and effectively give chances to businesses in the community
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to actually take part into our match day experience and provide their offering to our fans
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thereby becoming almost like a platform for the local businesses. We have our kit room, which now obviously is duly locked
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female officials, male officials, and then... Physio room where some treatment happened
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This is Dylan. Our physio, who does his magic and keeps everybody healthy and ready to perform
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And then this is where the magic, the best team in the world is
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This is where the home changer room, and you'll see all of our kit nicely laid out
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None of our players are naked, which is perfect. Come on over
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So let's get the Ted Lassau stuff out of the way. How much do you want to how much do you need to lean in to that association that you got with Ted Lasson Because I know it obviously useful from a commercial perspective but I imagine you don want to abandon you know the Hampton and Richmond borough kind of historical brand or you know identity or whatever
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What is good for the fans want to, I guess. So how do you tread that tight road
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I think, you know, firstly, fully agree, right? We are Hampton and Richmond. We've been here for more than 100 years established before Apple TV and Ted Lasson, right
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So we've always been very clear about that. We will never change the name of the club
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and we're here to celebrate the legacy, history, and future of the club. Now, the reality, though, is that the reason why we were capable of coming in
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and attracting significant capital is because of the Ted Lasso effect. Unapologetically, we've always said it, and we're very clear
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Ted Lasso has actually done a lot for this club. It's opened many doors, it started many conversations
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Then what you do with those conversations is what really matters, and what we won't do is sell out the real significance of this club
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because there's a commercial opportunity. There's certain values and a way of doing things that we will never cross
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regardless of the potential benefit one could imagine. Right? People have told us rebrand or really lean into it or, yeah, we are the real Talasso team
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There's no other team in Richmond that start a conversation about how we're actually different
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because we've been around for 100 years. It's not just their South London location
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Their chief football officer Paul Tisdale also apparently inspired the lasso character
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Look, Paul has a very, I think, unique and particular approach to football management
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which makes him stand out because he is human first. He is person first
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And he is about thinking before acting as well, right? And it's about values of treating people with respect, of giving players trust
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of explaining transparent with them and taking everybody on the journey. And so I think a lot of those values actually transpired
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not only what we're doing now, because Paul has been an integral part of the project from the beginning as a co-owner and advisor
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but also in terms of what Ted Lasso reflects So again one of those other interesting coincidence points between the real team enrichment and the fictional one in Ted Lasso is that they are both organizations
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that are about values and doing things that are away from the toxicity
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that usually and very much, very often surrounds football. We actually went for three block colors for our first team kit
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which are three official colors. red, blue and white. And essentially what we do is we have 27 different combinations
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across shirt, shorts and socks. And we try and change it up and match it up a bit
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to create some further element of excitement and basically give our fans and our community the view
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of having different kids and basically selecting which one they like the most
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Hampton and Richmond are backed by some big hitters from the world of US finance
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It's an unusual situation for a lot of the US finance. a sixth tier club, but it's one that they hope can help them climb the English football pyramid
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You meet these individuals and you know you're a bit daunted because you're talking to the top
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of the top, right? These people have done fantastic things and so you're flattered about the
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fact that they want to talk to you because you know they get pitches all over the place
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right, and they have to make a quick decision. But I think they realized that we had something
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special in terms of not only of the proposition but also the opportunity of this club
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and that started snowballing, right? Does that bring with it a certain amount of pressure
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Of course. Are they on your case? You know, when the loss 2-1, they're texting
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I would say the pressure does not come from them, you know, being upset about a result or anything
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Of course, they ask and they want to know the reasons behind not only on-pitch performance
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but other elements of performance. So the pressure comes, it's internally driven
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from knowing that you have very successful demanding people in their own areas of expertise
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even in their own businesses, that are watching. And they want to feel that they backed the winning team And by team I don mean the players on the pitch at least not exclusively but it more everybody involved And that why we make sure that our whole range of investors not all US
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A number of them are actually UK-based, Europe-based, even Richmond-based, right? There's a number of them
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And we also look to make connections between them, the players, the staff, the first-team manager
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Will. I don't know, Will, what's your impression of having that? Yeah, you've met. I mean, yeah, once you get over the fact that you know
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who they are. They're just really down to us people. Had some really good conversations
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with Scott. We've dunked in one of our other investors as well
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They're really helpful. They want us to succeed. Again, it's not just about the football club, it's
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about us as an individual. They want to see us succeed together
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and they're always there to help, which is really reassuring. And for you
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both for you and also for people who've invested in the club, what
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What is the ultimate aim? Is it to progress up the pyramid or is it to unlock return on investment
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I think what's more important if you ask me is to leave a legacy of success for the community
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that people can turn around and say, wow, those guys came in, invested in the club, ran the club
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and they left it a much better place than what it was before. So success can be measuring in many different ways
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I would say that at least for this project and this group of investors
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return on investment as in monetary is probably the last in the list
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Yeah, okay. It's important, but last. And I guess, you know, the old consultant in me would say that I can help it, right
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But I want to transition off of Evolve knowing that now anybody can come in and run it successfully
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because I've done the hardest bit. I've left them all the tools, all the keys, or the strategies and so forth, and they know
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what to do. They can make it theirs, of course. But I've left them the whole arsenal
