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In January 2020, Stuart Morgan helped form Dial Square FC along with a band of like-minded Arsenal fans who were disillusioned with the Kroenke family’s running of the club and the wider “greed” in modern football.

He faced a heavy backlash from Arsenal supporters when the idea was announced but the club started playing games and last month they sealed their second promotion in as many seasons to take them to step 11 in the English football pyramid — seven tiers below League Two.

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This week, however, after three-and-a-half years of trying to drive support for the project, Morgan has stepped down from his role as director and is relinquishing his shareholding.

“The most important and the best thing I’ve got out of it — and there haven’t been many, trust me — is the fan involvement,” Morgan says, whose day-to-day running of the project will be taken over by chairman Tony Hurley.

“We’ve sold shirts to Canada, the US, Europe, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. Seeing that people believe in it was the biggest reward, which is why I’ve been compelled to put so much into it.”

Morgan has ended his involvement after a life-changing leg break suffered last year while working in his day job as a roofer. It means he is unable to commit so much time to building the club but, with the club’s membership total sitting just below 100, he rejects the idea his decision was a result of failing to gain the level of support he hoped to achieve.

🚨 CLUB UPDATE 🚨

💻 Stuart Morgan leaves Dial Square FC: https://t.co/mInCKPkKHp#DialSquareReborn @AFSCLondon @GoonerFanzine @TheAthleticFC @NonLeagueCrowd pic.twitter.com/q8DEyAxiVN

— Dial Square F.C (@DialSquareFC1) May 8, 2023

“I expected at least 1,000 members to join, truthfully. I still think it would have been if we had been accepted into non-League and been based in London,” Morgan says.

“As soon as we started, we got sign-ups. It grew to around 140 members in the first year at £90 ($114) for an annual membership. They owned 15 per cent of the club and my plan was to give away more of my 85 per cent.

“But the hardest thing people find at our level is finding the staff to do things every weekend. People have been happy to give the money to be part of it, but sustaining the commitment to be there at games is a different matter.

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“Numbers have fluctuated. We went down to 70-odd but now we’re back up to 90-odd. The Super League backlash in 2021 was when fans came together and saw a spike of about 70 new members around that time but fans get bored and are fickle.”

Morgan’s first season as an Arsenal fan was in the 1991 title-winning campaign and he remains a passionate supporter despite forming a club which borrows its name from Arsenal’s origins.

There wasn’t a single eureka moment that led to the creation of Dial Square, rather an increasing discontent at the number of new kits being sold to fans every season, rising ticket costs, the move from Highbury to the Emirates and the sense Arsenal’s on-pitch performance was becoming secondary to the Kroenke’s return on investment.

The mood around Arsenal has transformed since the #WeCareDoYou campaign in the summer of 2019 when several significant fan groups joined forces — but the success under Mikel Arteta this season has not changed his stance.

“People thought we were turning our back on the club. That wasn’t what we were saying; it was about not putting up with the exploitation of fans and offering an alternative to the greed in the game,” he says.

“Those that have got involved love it. No one who has joined has changed. The Arsenal link naturally alienated some people but naturally over time, the message has focused on the greed aspect rather than being a protest club.

“You still see the disenchantment on social media but that hasn’t snowballed into people coming down to support it. If we had thousands watching our game you then start making a massive impact and that’s how AFC Wimbledon (the phoenix club of Wimbledon FC, formed in 2002) went through the leagues so quickly as they had 3,000 fans going.

“We still had a record crowd of over 130 this season, which is good for essentially park football. We have Chelsea and Fulham fans who come along as they like what we do with the money we raise by donating to the Arsenal Foundation and the charity Woking Mind.”

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The name for the club comes from the first moniker Arsenal used in their first game in 1886. It was adopted by the founding members who worked at the Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory in reference to the sundial at the top of the entrance.

Rather than pay homage to the club’s south London heritage by setting up in Woolwich, though, they ground-share Alwyns Lane with Isthmian League South Central Division side Chertsey Town — 30 miles west.

Morgan had a desire to set up his own club after his own playing days ended. He became a director in his local club Camberley Town, and in 2016 they reached the quarter-final of the FA Vase, while he even considered a career change to move into football operations at non-League level.

He says the motivator was to be at a club that was about winning and giving back to the fans. But why not just get behind a local team, rather than create another?

“Doing this was my last attempt at doing something to make a difference,” he says.

“We had a couple of conversations with the Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association, the Arsenal (Supporters’) Trust and ex-players but they’re linked to the clubs, so it was difficult for them to support us.

“I thought with the story and the motivation behind it, we’d be unique — and we are — but a lot of people hate us. We’re everyone’s cup final as they think we’re being too big for our boots with our social media following.”

Morgan is still an Arsenal season ticket holder and pays around £2,000 per season to sit in the Club Level area.

“I go to games for the sole reason I love the club and no one will take that away from me. I don’t buy the shirts anymore but with the ticket, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place,” he says.

“You can go and stand outside but they won’t listen. The only way was to make a physical protest and show the world that this was going to be a long-term project and a rival to greed.”

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Does he understand the criticism that some people will find this to be hypocritical and, ultimately, an ineffective protest?

“I do get that argument. The only thing you can do is make a moral stand by walking away — but then they’ve won. The atmosphere at Arsenal is the best I’ve seen this year but fundamentally the issues are still there and some of the things they do, like the new fan banners, is just to appease the unrest.”

COVID-19 came along after two months after Dial Square launched and derailed any sense of momentum. They also had their application to join the Combined Counties Football League rejected and had to enter the Guildford & Woking Alliance League. It meant they had to start step 14 rather than step 10.

“I’ve always maintained that when we reach non-League, that will be the big difference-maker,” says Morgan.

“Football is based on success and that keeps teams relevant. Once you get to non-League, the ground share could move closer to London which would help.

“We want fans to follow us, support us physically and financially and we’ll invest every penny in a team to win and go up the leagues. But if we take four or five years trying to get to non-League, the club will fizzle out.

“It’s a race against time and has been since the start. That’s what I’ve been saying to the others, so hopefully they take it forward.”

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