I live in Hillingdon and my childhood was spent in Hayes and Harlington. My parents/grandparents own a cafe near the station and some Hayes fans regularly come in on Saturday mornings. Had no idea things were this bad with the club.

Just came back from playing football at the Goals 5/7 a side near where the new ground is being built/next door to where the old ground used to be.

I'm about the same age as you. Very surreal to see someone from my area on Reddit, when I saw the thread title I didn't expect to see this!

I'm a Chelsea fan (since pre-Abramovich), I believe traditionally most people from our area are Chelsea or QPR, with some Arsenal and Brentford. A lot of Asians tend to support ManU or Arsenal, but plenty of pre-Abramovich Chelsea among them as well.

But ever since I got into football via my Dad's Chelsea support, I've always, always looked out for Hayes' results (and then Hayes & Yeading after the merger). I remember when I was young there was even a Friday night game live on Sky, in 2002 I think it was. Always dream of them playing a Prem team in the FA Cup, I didn't get into football until 2001 season but it's amazing to think Hayes were a replay win (against Bradford funnily enough) away from playing Chelsea in 1999/2000.

And I've been waiting and waiting for them to return to Hayes so I can watch them here and there, perhaps even get hooked fully. One of my dreams has been to get as many of my mates into it as possible and set up some Ultra style atmosphere and colourful support. Just to give the area something to unite around.

I've always thought Goals and local schools could so more to promote the club and get youngsters hooked from an early age, and an ultras group would be great for teens/young adults to enjoy. I mean football is well loved in our area, both GOALs 5/7 a sides are packed regularly, so the potential is absolutely there to get people interested, it's just a shame the club has been away all this time.

Don't know what else to say really.