Gary Neville\u2019s sports media group has acquired two YouTube channels owned by one of the UK\u2019s most popular but controversial football content creators in a deal understood to be worth a seven-figure sum.<\/p>\n
Mark Goldbridge\u2019s The United Stand<\/a> and That\u2019s Football<\/a> YouTube channels bring a combined 3.7 million subscribers to The Overlap<\/a>, Neville\u2019s group, which is understood to be seeking to grow its specialist coverage of big clubs across Europe.<\/p>\n Neville\u2019s purchase may raise some eyebrows: the former Manchester United defender and Goldbridge, whose sometimes negative, explosive outbursts about Manchester United seem to attract criticism and subscribers equally, may appear unlikely bedfellows.<\/p>\n Neville admits he criticised \u201cthose bloody YouTubers\u201d before he became one. Once asked if he would invite Goldbridge, whose real name is Brent Di Cesare, on to The Overlap, \u201cI think I said \u2018no\u201d, on Twitter [now X]. Someone will probably find that.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he\u2019s criticised me, quite heavily, in the last few years for my opinions on Manchester United. To be fair, we don\u2019t hold grudges between us. We don\u2019t take ourselves too seriously,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The deal seeks to capitalise on the scale of appetite for punditry and reaction to football matches outside of live coverage. Neville, the Overlap co-chair and former Manchester United defender, said that the goal was a group that \u201cgives fans direct, personality-led content.\u201d<\/p>\n While live football was still \u201cthe best moment of the week\u201d he said, the space The Overlap aimed for is \u201cthe noise segment\u201d: \u201cThe constant noise that sits around football when there\u2019s no football on \u2026 fans still want to hear about what\u2019s happening with their team. They still want the opinion, the debate, the conversation. That\u2019s the world that we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe United Stand and That\u2019s Football are two of the best-known football channels on YouTube, and our intention is to develop them into the most compelling Manchester United and football news channels in the market.\u201d<\/p>\n The United Stand, with 2.26 million subscribers, is the biggest Manchester United fan channel on YouTube while That\u2019s Football, with 1.46 million subscribers, covers the Premier League and beyond.<\/p>\n Under the deal, The United Stand will launch new formats, including Stick to United, featuring former players and journalists, and The Daily United, a daily Manchester United news show.<\/p>\n Plans for That\u2019s Football, which will be relaunched and rebranded, include a daily football news and podcast channel.<\/p>\n The Overlap, which Neville co-founded in 2021, includes Stick to Football, in which Neville and fellow pundits Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Roy Keane and Ian Wright are often joined by guests, and Fan Debate with Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes. Last year it launched Stick to Cricket, with Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan, David Lloyd and Phil Tufnell.<\/p>\n It is its first acquisition since Global, one of Europe\u2019s biggest commercial radio companies, which owns LBC and podcasts including The News Agents, took a majority stake<\/a> in January in the latest sign of YouTube\u2019s influence in sports broadcasting.<\/p>\n Neville said it was the \u201cfirst acquisition of hopefully a few more\u201d as it sought to \u201cbuild brilliant channels for big clubs in this country and around Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cWith The United Stand we\u2019d like to bring two or three different formats and pieces of content into the world of Mark that sit alongside what he currently does, using ex-football players and journalists talking about United.\u201d With That\u2019s Football, the plan is to create a new daily podcast football news channel, he said.<\/p>\n They were \u201cnot going to put anything into Mark\u2019s channel that he or his audience don\u2019t like\u201d but would add \u201cvalue and intelligence\u201d with ex-footballers and journalists.<\/p>\n