How A Joke Collapsed The Kick Off (True Geordie vs The Club)

The social media industry is a ruthless mistress where feelings and relationships are ruined in the pursuit of money and fame. It is a natural series of events that unfold throughout the game's content. A classic story of this has been on display in the football world on YouTube for the last year. So why and how have these two podcasts talking about sweaty, uniformed men caused so much drama? Just over a year ago, content creator True Geordie was canceled for an attempted

joke

he said on a live stream... This resulted in him and his business partner Laurence becoming radioactive to sponsors and worsened his image. public through a series of bad apologies and public relations. cleaning disasters.

However, the biggest impact was felt on his soccer IP, “The Kick Off.” The Kick Off was an independent channel that focused exclusively on football, more specifically top division matches. It was unlike any other football content on YouTube at the time, it was incredibly high-produced and had a unique concept of each panel member being a fan of different top-flight

club

s, offering varied perspectives, despite the shocking that could be some of his shots. The show was presented by True Geordie, Laurence, Buvy, Hugh Wizzy, Rory Jennings, Adam Mckola and a rotation of other football content creators…. So, after True Geordie was “canceled” by someone who was literally canceled and all sponsors were pulled, the podcast began to fall apart, with the initial members distancing themselves from Geordie… Adam Mckola stated: “I was friends with Brian before launch." so this whole episode has been a little confusing for me personally.

He has since reached out, which I appreciate. I really don't think Brian is a bad person deep down, he just made a mistake. We all make mistakes at some point; However, the way the situation has been handled has been poor. In the end, I made the decision to step back from my position at

kick

off.” One by one, everyone distanced themselves from Geordie, which is fair, everyone needs to look out for themselves. However, the cancellation came just weeks before the world cup was due to take place, prompting Geordie to ask Laurence if he would continue working with him throughout the world cup, which he did….

After the World Cup, the start returned on January 4, 2023, without Laurence and a new panel of guests. Most fans immediately felt that the beginning was nowhere near what it used to be and some fans felt that it was a refreshing spin on the show without much shouting... However, a week later, on January 18, 2023 , a month and a half after leaving the startup, it was announced that Rory, Adam and Buvy would launch a new podcast titled "The Club" that would become part of the boys' studio. Which is basically a podcast studio owned by YouTubers calfreezy and chip. The day after announcing the podcast, they uploaded a video titled "Welcome to the Club", it was essentially a teaser detailing what they were bringing to the show, which to some fans sounded very similar to the beginning...

The Club was a success and got more than 180,000 subscribers during the first year of launch. On January 22, 2024, the Club podcast published a video in which they quote top-ranked football podcasts "brutally" and naturally a discussion arose about their former employer, The Kick Off... I think it's very unfair to say , considering most people. those who consume football content would argue that they had no idea who Buvy or Rory were before

kick

-off... During this podcast, viewers were left confused after the boys didn't even mention any of Mark Goldbridge's podcasts, which are some of the most important in the world. platform and because they danced around the discussion about the beginning and what happened to The True Geordie.

One online commenter stated... "Honestly guys I think you either directly address what happened with The True Geordie or don't mention it at all, this wink wink nudge nudge is weird and disrespectful." Since his time on The Kick Off, Laurence has done a wide variety of work, from creating documentaries, launching his own channel and producing the podcast chunkz and yung filly. On 27 February 2024, Laurence spoke publicly for the first time since cutting ties with Brian, appearing on Mark Goldbridge's podcast... Lawrence also noted in the interview that he and Geordie potentially made a mistake by not giving them the boot. to the other members. out of skin in the business.

Or as it is sometimes called “a cooperative business” in which members become co-owners and have the right to vote on key business decisions. Which you can understand probably would have been a good move from each kick-off member's perspective. And how many YouTuber media companies are starting to operate. The more the company grows, the more incentivized the people involved are to see its growth. This then led to Goldbridge mentioning that if he had signed up to be a United fan on The Kick Off, it would have been an incredible number compared to other live streams in the football space.

At one point, Mark’s “That’s Football” livestream and the kickoff had a very similar audience for key major league games, so combining forces would have completely eliminated any other programs outside of the major leagues. media, out of the park. Yes, the show had issues like yelling at each other and incredibly bad takes from time to time, but I honestly believe that if it had started, it had the potential to knock on the door and disrupt some of the biggest media companies in the world. . Some people may be outraged when I say that, but praise has to be given where it's due because no one was bringing that level of production value to the world of online sports content outside of the major media companies.

But that's a lot of ifs, buts, and maybes, and don'ts about how this story played out. Mark went on to bring up a very good point that losing your IP and your friends in the process is just a kick in the balls, on top of that the

club

was able to be successful due to the disappearance of the kickoff…. While it's hard to trust anyone on social media and in business and everyone has to take care of themselves, it's surprising how quickly people abandon old friendships over a cancellation attempt or a prank. Granted a very bad

joke

that is very painful for the Muslim community.

I'm not excusing what he said. But if they really are someone's guy and business partner, they will surely confront you and check on you for what you said, apologize, educate you, and hopefully move on as better people in the process. But social media doesn't work like that, everyone involved must be seen as distancing themselves from the accused person and seen as villains until they replenish the well of social currency or goodwill. Continuing, Laurence revealed that she is no longer in a relationship with Brian and that she doesn't hold any grudges, but she doesn't see herself working with Brian in the future since that 7-year chapter has come to an end.

However, when asked if Lawrence thought there was any way to have dealt with the cancellation and kept the original start, he stated that a big part of it was not having an exit strategy... It's quite baffling what can be done. and what can be done. I'm not saying on the internet, especially depending on how you label yourself, would True Geordie have received almost half the backlash if he had been labeled a “comedian”? I'm not so convinced. But as Laurence said they drank too much from the social well and when they went to look for more there was no more left.

It's easy to sit back and say they should have done this or that, but at the end of the day, with anything online everything is a visa and you have no idea what's really happening behind the scenes, which is I'm always going to let those fans speculating. Football content these days is literally about saying the most ridiculous things possible to get views and creating a perfect short clip from the original podcast, so they're always going to be a bit fickle.