The backlash from Arsenal fans towards manager Arsene Wenger after the defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon has been vicious on a level that hasn’t been seen for some time.
A lot of it may have been in the heat of the moment, just minutes after defeat, however, there were more calls than ever for the Frenchman to call it a day, all after losing to the runaway Premier League leaders.
Whether the man who has been in the hotseat in north London for two decades now needs to step down and leave things to a new manager is almost impossible to call.
However, another line of debate that has stemmed from the loss to Antonio Conte’s side, is the role of the now infamous Arsenal Fan TV.
The YouTube channel, which was one of the first of its kind to really take off, kickstarted a new era to TV punditry.
Whilst the likes of BT Sport are looking for a new way to draw viewers away from Sky Sports, with their Premier League Tonight show giving fans the chance to send in short video reactions from the games they were at across the country, Fan TV channels are already well ahead of the curve.
Arsenal Fan TV, in particular, stands alone from all others as by far the most successful. While this is often the case of the success coming down to fans from other clubs taking a look at the latest weekly meltdown from the Gunners fans, you can’t fault the business model.
While some of the interviewees can be sensational and well over the top at times, I give you messrs Claude and Heavy D, the fact that the channel is now attracting the attention of Sky’s most celebrated pundit, Gary Neville, shows that it is having an impact on the wider discussion around football.
As the game grows more expensive and clubs begin to restrict media access to their own channels more than ever, fans are becoming increasingly isolated from the game they love and the clubs they support.
Furthermore, the shear money that some pundits and reporters, especially those in the broadcast channels, are afforded to cover the goings on, compared to the product they supply is astounding.
It has become increasingly rare to see a Sky Sports News reporter really hold a manager to account in a press conference, the easy questions are asked and the tough ones are deflected until, at least, the cameras are off and a manager is into the written section of his conference, which can be embargoed and managed by a club’s media team.
The emergence of channels like Arsenal Fan TV have given fans the platform to ask the tough questions of managers, those that some reporters are glazing over and side stepping in order to maintain a good relationship with a club or manager.
While the views and tough questions were previously consigned to YouTube and social media, the clash between Neville and Arsenal Fan TV as the Telegraph have reported shows that the powers that be in footballing media circles are beginning to sit up and take notice.