A lifelong football fan banned from his club's ground has taken his support to new heights - by watching matches from a nearby tree.

Richard Lambert, who has supported his beloved Epsom & Ewell FC since he was a young boy, took to the branches after being given a 'lifetime ban' from the club's ground in January.

Ostensibly, the ban was given because the 58-year-old changed the name of his account on X, formerly Twitter, to one that made it appear as though it was the non-league club's official account.

But the dad-of-one - who has dedicated his life to the ninth-tier club for over 44 years and barely misses a match - says he only changed the name in a protest that lasted six days.

Mr Lambert claims the club's committee instead has it out for him, as they're unhappy with his criticisms of the club on his website.

The passionate fan refuses to stop supporting the Combined Counties Premier Division South side, and has now resorted to watching games from the lofty heights of a tree overlooking this season's ground in Cobham, Surrey.

Mr Lambert, a self-proclaimed Epsom & Ewell FC 'historian' who writes match reports and runs his own website and photo archive, says he's prepared to watch from the tree for the rest of his life if he has to.

"I've been a fan for a long, long time," he said. "It has been a very difficult journey..."

"We lost our ground in 1993 and have been trying to get one ever since. "

"I was on the club's committee for the best part of 20 years. "

"I've been a supporter since 1981 and I follow them home and away, through thick and thin."

In January, during the 24/25 season, Mr Lambert claims the club's Vice Chairman threatened him with 'physical violence' at a match after changing the name of his X account.

Shortly after the game, he received a letter saying he was banned for life.



The letter the club sent to Mr Lambert notifying him of his ban says he flouted a previous agreement not to use his social media account in such a way, and refers to the ban as 'indefinite'.

For a fan who watched his first game at 15 and has travelled as far as the Channel Islands to watch his team play - and missing little over a hundred games over the past five decades - the ban was heartbreaking.

Mr Lambert was thereafter forced to watch games on a step outside the perimeter fence of King George's Field in Surbiton, which the team were sharing with the Corinthian Casuals team.

However, in March, he says the club hired a security guard who told him he couldn't even do that.

Refusing to back down, Mr Lambert climbed as high as 40ft up a tree to watch home games.

"I was about 30 to 40 feet up in the tree," he explained. "

"It wasn't a great view, as towards the end of the season there were more leaves on the trees. "

"The security guard even gave me a leg-up on one occasion. "

"They are now saying it's a lifetime ban. It's very frustrating. It's a sad story. "

"My boy likes to come and watch the football with his dad, but he can't now. "

"But they will not stop me from supporting the team that I love."

With the club now playing at the Leg O'Mutton Field in Cobham, which they share with Cobham FC, Mr Lambert has picked out a suitable tree from which to watch this season's matches.

Mr Lambert's lifetime ban comes after a previous ban in 2022, following his resignation from the club's committee.

He claims the club 'has it out' for him due to his sometimes inflammatory posts about the club and its committee on his website.

"They are trying to airbrush me from history," Mr Lambert continued. "I've tried to make them see sense, but they've ignored me. "

"If I had been there two weeks and started fights, I could understand [the ban]. "

"They don't like me because of the passion I have for my club."

"It's not their club, they are just the current caretakers of the club. "

"The supporters are the lifeblood of the club. People like me will have to pick up the pieces when they are gone. "

"I won't go away, and they don't like that."

Mr Lambert, who only missed one game last season, says the people running his club are 'devious', but does not want to hamper the team from being allocated a potential permanent home ground by the local council.

When approached, the Secretary of Epsom & Ewell FC confirmed Mr Lambert's lifetime ban, saying it would 'never change'.

A spokesperson for the club added: "We do not want to discuss this any further as the matter has been dealt with."