Arsenal Fan TV: Inside Robbie Lyle's £6.8m Empire Plagued by Controversy and Contributor Departures

As Arsenal's hopes of a Quadruple vanished in the final moments of the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City, the team on the pitch was left reeling.

But for Arsenal Fan TV, the work was beginning. Within 24 hours, the fan channel had flooded the internet with 22 videos dissecting every angle of the defeat.

From their signature fan vox pops to in-depth podcasts and post-mortems, every aspect of Mikel Arteta’s Wembley misstep was analysed. Then, without missing a beat, the focus shifted back to the Premier League title race.

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The Daily Mail has outlined an analysis of the behind-the-scenes struggle of AFTV. For some former contributors, the channel's success has come at a cost. Troopz (Aumar Hamilton), one of AFTV's breakout stars, believes success has changed Lyle for the worse.

After leaving in 2020 for a deal with US platform Barstool Sports, Troopz returned to independent content creation in 2023. He alleges that Lyle has since ignored him, despite knowing he has faced personal hardships.

"That man has been corrupted by, I don't know what," Troopz stated on the Branching Out podcast. "I don't know if it's brand deals. I don't know if it's bread (money)."

So, who is Robbie Lyle? Before becoming the media mogul "Don Robbie," he was a reggae artist in the late 1980s known as Crucial Robbie, releasing tracks like "Proud To Be Black" and the more humorously remembered "Don’t Sniff Da Coke."

Lyle's ambitions now extend beyond a single channel. He co-founded the Global Fan Network (GFN), an umbrella company producing content for various Premier League clubs and international markets. Lyle serves as a director alongside Randhir Singh Heer and media veteran Brett Lotriet Best.

Despite the corporate expansion, the 62-year-old Lyle remains the undeniable face of AFTV, the jewel in GFN's crown. He oversees a cast of recurring characters, but keeping them out of trouble has proven to be a challenge.

Pundit Lee Judges recently went viral for demanding Arteta show "a little more fing bllocks" after a draw with Wolves. He previously sparked outrage in December 2024 for saying he wanted to "shoot" Martin Odegaard following a 0-0 draw with Everton, a comment AFTV later edited out after a backlash.

In another incident in 2025, the channel could not control the narrative when recurring personality Julian Bucker was filmed trying to stop Lyle from being interviewed by another creator, Saeed TV, because Lyle was wearing a pro-Palestine badge.

AFTV founder Robbie Lyle has been forced to address another controversy surrounding one of his contributors. The latest incident involved a contributor named Julian, whose actions prompted a public backlash. In a video statement, Lyle attempted to quell the growing furore.

"I've spoken to Julian today, spoken to him about his actions," he said. "It's been dealt with." Lyle used the opportunity to highlight why he strives to maintain an apolitical platform.

This is not the first time AFTV has navigated such issues. In 2021, former pundit Moh Haider, a vocal supporter of Palestine who often wore a pin, departed from the channel. He later claimed on social media that AFTV had shown "pure cowardice" and a "lack of class" by using his political stance as a reason to remove him.

At the time, AFTV dismissed these claims as "baseless" and "unsubstantiated." Sartej Tucker, then the channel's head of business development, reiterated their position, stating, "We don't engage in geopolitical conflicts."

One of the most significant controversies for the channel involved Liam Goodenough, known to viewers as 'Mr DT'. A frequent and popular contributor, Goodenough was sentenced to three years in prison for stalking and kidnapping an ex-partner. He had previously received a 12-month sentence and a 10-year restraining order for the same offences.

Following his conviction, AFTV issued a statement expressing it was "utterly appalled and disgusted" by his actions and confirmed he would no longer appear on the platform.

In a 2021 interview with The Athletic, Lyle described the situation as a "learning moment" for the channel. "That was a very rough moment," he said. "I knew he was in some problems, but I didn't know the full extent. I found out at the same time as everyone else. And it was shocking."

More recently, the departures of contributors known as 'Turkish' (Bilal Aydin) and James Bayliss in the autumn of last year have fueled speculation about internal conflicts.

While Bayliss remains involved with the associated GFN channel, Turkish has suggested that disagreements led to his exit.

Speaking on the Branching Out podcast, Turkish was asked if fans deserved closure on his sudden departure. "I don't mean nothing by it, but I just didn't care by the end of it," he responded, clarifying his comment was not directed at the community. "I just look back and it ended the way it ended."

He also touched on his relationship with Lyle, saying, "In terms of Robbie, we just haven't spoken, and that's not since it's happened, that's before it happened... He's stubborn, I'm stubborn, that's it." He added that while he holds no grudges, "There are still open ends, but maybe it's never going to close."

Appearing on the same podcast, Robbie Lyle, often referred to as 'the Don', sought to downplay any talk of bad blood and shift the focus. "In businesses, people move on, naturally," he stated.

"In football, you'll have a player... Look at Mo Salah at the moment. He's great at Liverpool. He's moving on at the end of the season, that happens all the time... But for some reason, it happens with me, it's a problem."

Lyle insisted that the situations are not as dramatic as people think. "Unfortunately, nothing's forever. And people do move on. I might move on one day," he said, emphasising the need for professionalism.

AFTV, which was compelled by the club to rebrand from its original name, Arsenal Fan TV, in 2018, rose to prominence during the club's turbulent "Wenger Out" era. The channel's raw, emotional, and often divisive content captured the frustration of a fanbase in turmoil.

This approach drew criticism from many fellow supporters, who felt the channel negatively impacted the club's atmosphere, with some even calling for its contributors to be removed from the Emirates Stadium.

Despite the controversy, the meltdowns and heated debates made for viral content that attracted viewers from across the football world. A recent video featuring contributor "Troopz" delivering an expletive-filled analysis of a disappointing 2-2 draw with Wolves garnered an impressive 645,000 views.

In stark contrast, videos celebrating the routine victories that have propelled Mikel Arteta's team toward a potential first league title in two decades often struggle to reach 10,000 views.

This trend highlights a significant challenge for the channel. Of AFTV's 28,000 videos, 51 have surpassed one million views. Notably, none of these highly-viewed videos were posted in the last five seasons, a period that coincides with Arteta's successful rebuilding of the team.

While Arsenal has maintained a distance from the fan channel, it is unlikely the club would wish for one of its largest social media platforms to fail.

Yet, as the team's fortunes improve, AFTV finds itself a potential victim of its own club's success. Should Arsenal suffer a shock defeat, such as in an FA Cup tie, a small number of their fans might find a silver lining in the drama it would inevitably create.