Herne Bay Football Club are delighted to announce the formation of a brand new Media Team to help lead the club in this new era. Both Josh Allsopp and Kian Ward bring with them a wealth of experience and new fresh ideas. These will assist in building an even stronger bridge between all supporters, sponsors and the club itself.

Josh Allsopp:
Twitter: @JoshuaAllsopp_
Instagram: @josh_j_allsopp

Josh Allsopp a Herne Bay local has spent the last 4 years studying graphics at both GCSE and A-Level. He has developed and learnt a whole host of skills that will be put to use with the modernisation of Herne Bay FC. To add, Josh has also spent the last 2 years on another passion, photography. He has played under the Herne Bay Youth section for the past 10 years and has now moved into this new exciting role within the main Football Club. Josh has aims of increasing the online presence to create a deeper relationship with the current fans and attract new fans from within the local community and beyond. Josh will focus on all aspects of our social media as well as increasing the overall engagement we as a club have. Additionally, Josh will assist the club in photography at both home and away fixtures as we enter the highly anticipated 2020/21 season. He is extremely thankful to both Stuart Fitchie (Club Chairman) and Ben Smith (1st Team Manager) for the opportunity.

Kian Ward:
Twitter: @KianWardgk
Instagram: @kwardgk

Kian Ward, from Dartford in North Kent, has been watching Non-League football since he was a child. Previously, Kian worked for former Isthmian league side Thamesmead Town FC as well as National League South outfit Dartford FC.
Having worked as a matchday operator for Thamesmead, he began to develop their social media just before the club became defunct. He then moved to Dartford FC providing matchday updates on both the clubs Instagram and Twitter. Kian is a major advocate for grassroots women's football, so alongside his work with the Dartford men's team, Kian began running weekly interviews with both the Dartford Women's first team manager and players, an unprecedented move at that level of the women’s game. Kian aims to increase the contact between both the first team and our supporters as we enter the 2020/21 season. He will look to increase the overall matchday experience for those following the match through our social media, as well as on the day fan engagement.

Chairman Stuart Fitchie had this to say on both Josh and Kian’s arrival at the club: “After initial conversations with both Josh and Kian I was very excited with the enthusiasm and knowledge both had in the media space. Social media and an online presence is now commonplace amongst the top teams, we have to / must invest and strive to be in the same bracket. Both Josh and Kian come to us with solid reputations and I was very happy with how both came across.
I’m extremely excited that they are on board and have already started to hit the ground running with some impressive ideas and plans for the forthcoming season.”

First team manager Ben Smith also had this to say: “It’s no secret that our aim is to, at some stage, move the club into step 3 and everything we do on and off the pitch should have that in mind. Media content and presence is a real area of development for 90% of non-league clubs so I am delighted to have the team on board to create and share HBFC content and join us in our journey. There has already been a lot of planning behind the scenes and I am excited by the enthusiasm and ambition that the guys have for this vital area of the club.”

Both Josh and Kian said: “ We are extremely thrilled to join a historic club like Herne Bay and are very grateful to both Stuart and Ben for giving us this opportunity. Between us, we come with a whole host of fresh ideas and a large skill set that will propel our club forward virtually. We hope that over the coming weeks and months both supporters, sponsors and players will see an overall better media output, especially with our new club Badge unveiling in the next few weeks.”

If you have an interest in joining the newly formed media team or if you have any ideas and suggestions you feel would be beneficial to the club then please get in contact via email: HBFCMedia@gmail.com with the subject ‘2020/2021 HBFC Media’.