Walton & Hersham Say Elmbridge Lease Refusal Leaves Their Future at the Xcel Sports Hub in Doubt

Walton & Hersham co-owner Calogero Scannella says the club’s position at the Xcel Sports Hub on Waterside Drive is “unsustainable” after Elmbridge Borough Council told him there is “no appetite” for a new long-term lease. Without a change, he warns, there may be no club to speak of.

A Step 2 Club in Limbo, and Where Fans Fill the Gap

The stakes are not abstract. According to Surrey Advertiser, Walton & Hersham have climbed from Step 6 to Step 2 of non-league football in a short space of time, a rise that transformed expectations around the club and drew a broader following. For supporters tracking a side at National League South level while its home situation remains unresolved, much of that connection happens online, through fixtures, results, and club news checked between visits to the ground.

The Cryptoplinko editorial team, which monitors where digital leisure attention flows, observes that this stream of online matchday engagement sits squarely in contested territory. Online crypto casino games — a category that https://cryptoplinko.com actively courts — compete for the same screen time and discretionary spend that fans might otherwise channel into following Walton & Hersham.

“If things stay exactly the same, there is no Walton & Hersham Football Club.”

That is Scannella’s own summary of where the club stands.

A Forced Move, a Collapsed Groundshare, and a Half-Finished Stadium

The club’s presence at the Xcel Sports Hub was never intended to be a permanent solution on these terms. Walton & Hersham moved to Waterside Drive for the 2017-18 season, initially sharing the ground with local rivals Walton Casuals. The arrangement gave the venue two occupants and spread the practical burden of running a non-league ground.

At their previous home, Stompond Lane, the club benefited from bar takings. That income disappeared with the move. At the Xcel Sports Hub, Places Leisure, an operator put in place by the council, runs the clubhouse and retains the profits. The loss of that revenue stream has compounded the club’s financial difficulty at every stage since.

Walton Casuals folded in 2022, leaving Walton & Hersham as the sole tenant. The physical venue has not kept pace with the club’s rise through the divisions. The Xcel Sports Hub currently has a stand on only one side of the pitch and no electronic scoreboard, a combination described as rare for a club operating at the higher levels of non-league football.

The Lease Request, the Missing Bar Revenue, and the Flat Refusal

Around a year before this story was published, the club submitted a formal approach to the council for a new long-term lease. The council indicated it would bring the matter to cabinet and councillors for discussion. Scannella says that discussion never happened. Then, shortly before the start of the current season, the club received its answer.

“There’s no appetite for it. See ya,” is how Scannella described the council’s communicated position.

The bar revenue dispute runs alongside the lease problem. Scannella alleges the club holds documentation that the council itself printed, stating that bar income was to be split with the clubs using the ground.

“We have a piece of paper that was printed by the council saying the bar revenue was to be split. But we never saw any of that,” he said.

The financial consequence is direct. “We are losing 40 grand a month currently,” Scannella told Surrey Advertiser, putting the club’s monthly shortfall at £40,000 under the current arrangement.

The decision to make the dispute public reflects where the club believes it now stands. “At this point, the club’s fighting for its own survival. It’s got nothing to lose to make sure that everyone knows the facts,” Scannella said.

Council Denials, Alternative Grounds, and a Warning from Recent History

Elmbridge Borough Council pushed back on the picture Scannella painted. In a formal statement, the council said it has funded significant maintenance, cleaning, utility, and operating costs at the Xcel Sports Hub and has invested in a new artificial pitch there. “Walton & Hersham FC is an important part of our local community, and we have consistently supported the club both financially and operationally,” the statement read. On the bar question specifically, the council said it “is working with the club to reopen bar facilities as soon as possible.”

The council also denied any desire to see the club leave or fold, adding that it “remains committed to supporting Walton & Hersham FC’s future success, but that must be built on respectful, constructive relationships and a safe environment for staff, customers and all facility users.”

Scannella rejected part of how the council has framed the relationship. “I’ve been told that the council are viewing us now as this commercial entity that only wants to make money. It’s just rubbish,” he said. He added that council officials have indicated that if the club departs, another club will simply take its place.

On the political front, Scannella said the club has had positive conversations with Monica Harding, the MP for Esher and Walton, though broader local government engagement has not produced results. The club has also explored groundshare options with Hampton & Richmond Borough and Slough Town but is reluctant to leave Surrey. “We are looking for a new home,” Scannella said.

The sharpest warning in the dispute returns to the venue’s own record. One club has already folded at the Xcel Sports Hub. Walton Casuals ceased to exist in 2022 while using the same ground. Scannella’s point is plain: the council should not need reminding of that, and the club cannot afford for it to be treated as an irrelevant footnote.