7: Arsenal Fan TV's Robbie: We don't benefit from defeat

The Andrew Gold Show (Heretics)

Andrew Gold

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Documentary

4.3 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2020

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is probably one for the football fans, but it's also a look into how to grow a social media channel and cross over into TV. Robbie Lyle of Arsenal Fan TV created his own channel in 2012 and it now has more a million followers. He can't walk the streets without being greeted by fans - and that goes for China and other parts of the world just as much as it does the UK. AFTV has attracted criticism from high profile fans and players, former and current, who claim the show profits from the teams defeats. Robbie has always flatly denied this accusation. I ask him about it and point out that 16 of his top-20 videos came after defeats, because his regular fellow fans get so angry that it brings in rival fans out of schadenfreude. We also have a great chat about his surprise upon meeting Spurs player Harry Kane, before Robbie gives his opinion and recounts person stories on everyone from Wenger and Lacazette to Kanu and Xhaka. He talks about the racist abuse he received at Spurs, and how the club got in touch with the YouTuber afterwards. And we get into life on the road and how it affects his kids. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:36.9	Today's episode is with Robbie Lyle, who has become a household name, or at least a household face, in English sports. He's the presenter and creator of AFTV, once known as Arsenal Fan TV, before the London Football Club intervened.
0:44.3	With over a million subscribers on YouTube and a huge online presence that extends well beyond both Arsenal and football,
0:50.3	AFTV is an outlier and a beacon of hope for fans wanting to take back some of the control in a world of sports dominated by money and football. AFTV is an outlier and a beacon of hope for fans wanting to take back
0:54.9	some of the control in a world of sports dominated by money and corporations. Without getting too deep
1:00.6	into it, I think it also speaks for something beyond football. The downtrodden fan rising up against
1:05.8	the man. Their most popular video has more than 3 million views and features a supporter yelling
1:10.5	about the club's owner.
1:12.0	He's over in America.
1:13.3	I bet he don't even know the fucking result.
1:15.4	He's just bought a ranch bigger than Birmingham.
1:17.7	He bought a vineyard.
1:18.7	He don't give a fuck about us.
1:21.2	That video came just after a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool and a quick glance at AFTV's most popular
1:26.2	videos reveals the angry reactions to
1:28.4	losses go far more viral than those after victories. This has led many fans and players,
1:34.3	including Gary Neville and Hector Bellarine, to criticise the channel for profiting from the demise
1:39.2	of the club they love. It's an accusation that irks Robbie, and he even managed to convince
1:43.5	Neville it wasn't the case
1:44.6	when he came on the show.
	...

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