Leamington FC’s head of social media Max Passantino on ‘absolute bedlam’ promotion limbs

After Leamington FC’s promotion to the National League North, Max Passantino discussed the club’s future, his role and balancing his life.

After a memorable 1-0 win in front of a sold out 650 away fans, it was ‘absolute bedlam’ in the away end: “it was probably the best limbs I’ve seen in non-league.”

The long serving head of media has become part of the furniture at the club, and moments like that make him want to keep going.

On a normal matchday, Passantino’s time is spent travelling from university to Leamington, where he will get the coach with the first team to away matches or be at the stadium for home matches at around 11am.

Focusing on the media side, he will make sure the setup for commentary and coverage is prepared before catching up with some fans around the stadium.

After the match, the job consists of post-match interviews, presentations which he will run and then being sent the media to post on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

Passantino is a student at the University of Leicester, who works part-time at a supermarket and is head of social media for Leamington FC. Balancing time is tough but after the promotion, his schedule got busier despite the season being over: “I thought the work would slow down a bit but if anything it’s got busier.

“It’s challenging, I’ve always believed that if you want to do something you’d do it.

“It’s definitely draining, mentally and physically, but in the end when you see our coverage of the play offs it’s worth it.”

Leamington’s social media has seen huge numbers of followers especially on TikTok. The club’s TikTok has over 80,000 followers with millions of views. Passantino said on the relationship between himself and the fans: “It’s everything to me really. In my role the supporters are the ones who tell me how I’m doing.

“Not only in non-league but for every club the relationship between us and the supporters is massive.”

The TikTok account kicked off during the pandemic, when Passantino thought of taking a different route in promoting the team, jumping on trends to create a platform for the club.

The local lad, who started going to watch his beloved Brakes at five-years-old, believes the support behind the club is more special than that of a club higher up in the leagues.

The social media admin admitted it will be tough for Leamington after their play-off win, as they must adapt to National League rules which may have implications on costs for the club.

However, despite being a midlands club in the National League North, Passantino prefers the longer distance matches, as there is more of a buzz about away games further away.

“Our whole mantra is ‘go and have a party anywhere we go’.”

The club is aware their budget will be lower than most in their new division, as news came that they’ve been allocated into the National League North, but it does mot matter to Passantino.

“Yes we’ll have a bottom two/bottom three budget in the league, we didn’t have the best budget in the league last season. There were lots of teams outspending us who fell short of us.”

Our latest Podcast is available below, featuring Passantino.