Rooney and Goldbridge Launch New Manchester United Show

Wayne Rooney is stepping into a new kind of partnership this season – and it’s one that fuses old‑school United royalty with the raw energy of fan media.

The Manchester United legend will co-host a new club-dedicated show, Stick to United with Wayne Rooney, alongside influencer Mark Goldbridge. The programme will sit under Gary Neville’s rapidly expanding Overlap umbrella, adding another heavyweight name to a network that has moved from experiment to serious media player in just a few years.

From Fan Channel to Overlap Flagship

Goldbridge’s journey has already taken a sharp turn in 2024. Earlier this year, Neville bought the influencer’s YouTube channels – The United Stand and That's Football – for an undisclosed seven-figure fee, bringing one of football’s biggest fan voices into his Overlap network.

Goldbridge, real name Brent di Cesare, commands more than 3.8 million followers across those channels. His clips routinely explode across social media, driven by his outlandish reactions and unapologetically strong views on players, managers and clubs. Now that same volatility will share a stage with Rooney’s more measured, insider perspective.

Rooney is already a familiar face on the Overlap’s Stick to Football show, where he appears as a regular pundit. This time he moves from panellist to frontman, leading a United-only format alongside one of the most divisive fan voices in the game.

Disney+ Deal Signals Step Up

The new show is part of a wider distribution deal with Disney+ that underlines how far Neville’s project has come since 2021. The platform will carry 50 episodes of Stick to United and 40 episodes of Stick to Football across the season – a serious content slate for a network that started as a YouTube offshoot.

Neville, who co-founded and co-chairs The Overlap, framed the tie-up as a way to grow without losing what made the brand stand out in the first place, saying the partnership "expands our reach without compromising our identity".

The Overlap has already pushed beyond football, branching into cricket and rugby. With Disney+ on board and Rooney now fronting a dedicated United show, the project edges even closer to the mainstream broadcasting giants it once sat outside.

Neville’s Changing Relationship with Fan Media

Neville’s move to buy Goldbridge’s channels is striking given his past clashes with fan-driven outlets. Back in 2017, he publicly slammed ArsenalFanTV, calling it "embarrassing" after contributors on the channel tore into Arsene Wenger following a 3-1 defeat by Chelsea.

That criticism sparked a Twitter row between Neville and the Arsenal fan channel, culminating in him later appearing on ArsenalFanTV to explain his views face to face. Seven years on, the former England defender is not just debating fan media – he’s investing in it, reshaping it and putting his own name behind its biggest characters.

Goldbridge, once the outsider shouting from the digital terraces, now sits at the heart of Neville’s media empire. With Rooney beside him, the dynamic between traditional ex-pro analysis and fan-led passion will be laid bare on a weekly basis.

Rooney’s Growing Media Portfolio

This new role does not come at the expense of Rooney’s existing work. The Wayne Rooney Show will return to BBC platforms this season, while he continues in his punditry role on Match of the Day.

So Rooney will straddle three very different spaces: the BBC’s established, polished coverage; the Overlap’s panel-driven, insider-heavy Stick to Football; and now a fiery, United-only format alongside a man whose rants have become viral staples.

For Manchester United supporters, it sets up a fascinating mix – a club legend and a fan-channel firebrand, sharing a stage at a time when every performance, every transfer and every misstep at Old Trafford gets dissected in real time. How that blend plays out across 50 episodes might say as much about the future of football media as it does about United themselves.