Kevin Palmer: Why football YouTubers are no longer a joke
Those of us over the age of 25 may never understand the appeal of watching someone who has never played football outside of his local park talking about a match he is watching on a TV screen we can't see.
Yet this brand of broadcasting can no longer be viewed as a back channel for impressionable fans whose knowledge of the game can be scribbled on the back of a stamp.
With tens of millions of followers around the world, these YouTube channels are now a platform to influence vast swathes of fans, and this trend is only going to grow.
Ask a 14-year-old whether he would rather hear the verdict of YouTubers Mark Goldbridge or football legend Roy Keane after a Manchester United match and you might be surprised by the answer.
Before we go any further, it may be necessary to explain who Goldbridge is because there is a fair chance most of you won't know him, even if he has popped up on your social media feed after a United defeat.
Goldbridge has made his name from ranting and raving about United's failings, with his brutal brand of observational comedy analysis serving up weekly viral social media hits.
As is often the case on social media, he is a fictional character dreamed up by a football fan whose real name is Brent Di Cesare.
Initially ridiculed as a misfit who had similarities to Ricky Gervais's alter-ego David Brent, Goldbridge is now a leading voice for a new generation of football fans who hang on his every word.
United legend Rio Ferdinand is among those who have suggested his negative swipes at the players and managers have contributed to the toxic atmosphere at the club.
The United Stand YouTube channel Goldbridge fronts passed the two million subscriber mark some time ago, and he also has well over two million followers on X and more on Facebook and TikTok.
Goldbridge's legend has been created by his enduring popular 'watchalongs', as he serves up hilarious commentary on matches. United's misfiring players give him more ammunition than any comedian would need to come up with one-line put-downs.
'Victor Lindelof has been about as useful as Stephen Hawking's treadmill,' screamed Goldbridge during one of his iconic social media rants.
He accused Serbian midfielder Nemanja Matic of being 'about as useful as a pair of glasses on a bloke with one ear,' while he renamed United Dracula FC after suggesting they 'couldn't deal with crosses'.
Robbie Lyle of AFTV
Goldbridge comes to life when United lose, and that was also the case for the breakthrough channel in this football YouTube boom, with Arsenal Fan TV making a huge impact in double quick time.
Fronted by Robbie Lyle and supported by a cast of opinionated Gunners fans, this channel made a significant breakthrough in the YouTube football space and paved the way for others.
Their simple approach of chatting to fans after a match proved to be a huge hit at a time when Arsenal were in a period of decline at the end of Arsene Wenger's reign as manager.
Arsenal's hierarchy were concerned that the YouTube channel was adding to the discontent around the club at the time and demanded the channel be renamed from Arsenal Fan TV to AFTV.
That proved to be a minor setback for a channel that continues to thrive, as it now offers up studio content as well as post-match fan interviews that continue to be a huge hit.
Goldbridge and AFTV have an appeal that can be appreciated, yet the biggest star of this football influencer boom continues to delight his young audience and baffle the rest of us.
Eccentric American Darren Watkins, known online as 'IShowSpeed' or simply 'Speed', gained a following on YouTube and TikTok with what can only be described as annoying reactions, as kids bizarrely enjoyed watching him screaming and shouting as he played computer games in his bedroom.
His YouTube breakthrough was confirmed as he reached one million followers back in 2021. His obsession with Cristiano Ronaldo reached a peak when he finally met his hero and served up a predictably woeful acting performance to ensure he attracted the most attention on YouTube.
Moments like that allowed Speed to become a hero to a huge number of young fans. His channel is now attracting 43 million subscribers and star names like Paul Pogba eager to join him for YouTube exclusives.
Those of us looking in on Speed's rise may be as confused as most of the celebrities he confronts with his screaming antics, but his audience laps it up as if it is a work of art, and for that reason he now has a media empire that leading sponsors are willing to pay big money to be a part of.
A new Premier League season is just three weeks away and while Sky Sports are preparing to broadcast more live games than ever, a whole new way of consuming football content is at the heart of what may come next.
With audiences open to having two screens – watching a live match with commentary or a live blog running in tandem has quickly caught on.
If you needed any evidence that the watchalong model is no longer a niche idea, it has been provided by some of the biggest names in sport over the last year.
Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane and Ian Wright staged their first YouTube watchalong party last December, with an audience of 745,000 confirming it was a success on their wildly successful Overlap channel.
The Irish Independent also hosted its first YouTube watchalong for the first Lions Test last week, and when the biggest names in media are following the lead of the new generation, you know this trend is here to stay.
The new generation of football fans consumes football differently from their parents did, with the YouTubers they follow shaping their view of the game.
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