Wayne Rooney Joins Mark Goldbridge for New Manchester United Show
Wayne Rooney is stepping even deeper into Manchester United’s modern media universe, teaming up with influencer Mark Goldbridge to front a new club-dedicated show this season.
The former United and England captain will co-host Stick to United with Wayne Rooney, a spin-off born out of Gary Neville’s rapidly growing Overlap network. Rooney is already a familiar face on the Overlap’s flagship panel show Stick to Football; now he gets a United-only platform alongside one of the internet’s most divisive fan voices.
Rooney, Goldbridge and the Overlap machine
Goldbridge’s rise has been built on his two YouTube channels, The United Stand and That's Football, where his animated rants, hot takes and watchalongs have turned him into a viral staple. Across both channels he commands more than 3.8 million followers, and his clips regularly ricochet around social media.
Neville moved decisively earlier this year. The former United defender, who launched The Overlap in 2021, paid an undisclosed seven-figure sum in April to acquire Goldbridge’s channels and fold them into his media operation. Those platforms now sit under The Overlap umbrella, which has already branched out beyond football into cricket and rugby.
Now comes the next step: pairing one of United’s greatest ever players with one of the club’s loudest online voices.
Disney+ deal turns fan chat into primetime content
The new show is part of a major distribution agreement with Disney+. As part of that deal, Disney+ will carry 50 episodes of Stick to United and 40 episodes of Stick to Football across the season, turning what began as YouTube fan content into a regular, big-platform fixture.
Neville has been clear about the strategy, saying the partnership “expands our reach without compromising our identity”. The plan is simple: keep the raw, fan-led feel, but push it to a far wider audience.
It marks a striking moment for Goldbridge in particular. Once just a fan broadcaster operating outside traditional media, he now sits inside a network co-chaired by a former United captain and plugged into a global streaming giant.
From critic to curator
Neville’s embrace of fan media is all the more notable given his past criticism of similar platforms. He famously took aim at ArsenalFanTV in 2017, branding it “embarrassing” after contributors on the channel tore into Arsene Wenger following a 3-1 defeat by Chelsea.
That sparked a heated exchange on Twitter and eventually led to Neville appearing on ArsenalFanTV to explain his stance. Years on, he is not just tolerating fan channels; he is buying them, reshaping them and building a media network around them.
Now he has Rooney at the centre of it.
Rooney’s media portfolio grows
The new United-focused show will sit alongside Rooney’s existing broadcast commitments. The Wayne Rooney Show is set to return to BBC platforms this season, while he will continue his punditry work on Match of the Day.
From the pitch to prime time, Rooney’s voice around Manchester United is about to get louder. The question now is how that blend of club legend and fan firebrand will shape the conversation in a season where every word, every clip, every reaction can go viral in an instant.
