‘You haven’t got the faintest idea’: Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan hits out at AFTV’s Robbie Lyle

Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan engaged in a heated argument with AFTV creator Robbie Lyle during a radio debate about whether the way fans make their voices heard.

AFTV [formerly ArsenalFanTV] has long been criticised by people who work within the sport, having provided a platform for angry rants and strong criticism since it launched in 2012. Both current Arsenal player Hector Bellerin and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville have hit out at the YouTube channel for its negativity aimed at the Premier League club, while arguments and violence have also been witnessed on episodes.

The fan-focussed channel has forged out a successful following with more than 1.1m subscribers, with Lyle very much the face of AFTV as well as the brains behind it.

Jordan joined the criticism aimed at AFTV earlier this month by labelling it “drivel” and claimed that it operated on misery, adding “it thrives on toxicity, it’s a commercial venture and the guy [Lyle] makes a fortune”.

As a result, Talksport invited Lyle onto the show to discuss how the channel operates as well as Jordan’s own background, having sold Palace in 2010 for nothing when the club went into administration after purchasing it 2000.

In an argument that grew increasingly heated, Lyle accused Jordan of looking down on the views expressed by fans like those who feature on AFTV – a claim that the former Palace chairman strongly denies. He also takes issue with the fact that Jordan has not attended a single Palace game this season and suggests that those who do attend games have a more educated opinion as a result.

But that sets Jordan off on a lengthy response to reveal how hurt he remains by losing the club, which is why he cannot bring himself to go to Selhurst Park for game these days, and he claims that Lyle “hasn’t got the faintest idea what he’s talking about” when it comes to discussing football ownership.

Here’s what the pair said on the ‘Today with White and Sawyer’ show.

Robbie Lyle: “I’m sorry Simon, but I do think you look down on the type of fans that come on AFTV. It’s very hypocritical, because Talksport allow fans to come on and have their say and sometimes some of the things the fans say we don’t agree with either. But it’s a fan’s opinion, and as I say to you in the video, what gives you more right to have a say on Arsenal than those fans – how many Arsenal games have you been to?”

Simon Jordan: “But who said I did?”

RL: “Can I ask you a question? One second, because I’ll let you talk. You’re a Crystal Palace fan?”

SJ: “Well obviously otherwise I wouldn’t have bought them.”

RL: “How many Palace games have you been to this season?”

SJ: “None. This is not a monologue, this is not the Robbie Lyle show. You can’t tell me what I think ok?”

RL: “How many football games have you been to?”

SJ: “How many football clubs have you owned? How many chairmen have you commented on at your club? You don’t know how to be a chairman and you don’t know how to manage a football club, you just have an opinion on it.”

RL: “I give an opinion on it. The point I’m trying to make is that you’re looking down on these fans and saying that they’re not allowed to have their say and you haven’t even been to a game! You haven’t even been to a game!”

SJ: “Robbie, you cannot tell me what I think of the fans [because] you don’t know.”

SJ: “The real energy behind your platform and the conflict for you as an Arsenal fan – a purported Arsenal fan – and we’ll go back to me in a second...”

RL: “A purported Arsenal fan?! A ‘purported Arsenal fan’ says the person who doesn’t go to any games. I was at the game last night, I got in at 4am in the morning.”

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SJ: “We’ll go back to me in a second, but the idea that you have a commercial vested interest in the wellbeing of your product supersedes your role as a fan. Now we’ll go to me as an owner. Here’s me Robbie: at 32 years of age I bought the football club that my father played for. I signed schoolboy forms with Palace when I was 16, I spent £50m of my money on a football club. I ran out of money in 2010 and I handed it to others for nothing.”

“I don’t go to watch Crystal Palace because it’s very difficult for me to watch others who took something from me that shouldn’t have been belonging to them. I’ve given them players like [Nathaniel] Clyne, who you tried to sign and couldn’t afford, I’ve given them players like [Wilfried] Zaha from my academy that you couldn’t afford and you’ve also tried to sign Victor Moses. So when you sit there and talk to me about being a failed football owner or a failed chairman, you don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talking about, you don’t have the faintest idea.”

“Now I don’t take exception to it because that’s public record stuff and you’re entitled to your opinion, but don’t tell me what I think of fans. I was the first football club owner to refund fans their money when my players stunk the house out because they didn’t want to lift a leg on an away game. I have an absolute doubled-down value of fans but I listen to you guys and what I hear is a societal reflection, and football isn’t supposed [to be like that]. It is because we’ve got a very angry negative society out there that thinks it had a vantage point of saying things that is toxic and sport shouldn’t be a reflection of society, it should be an antidote to society. It should be about lifting people out of grey areas, not listening to people effing and jeffing and broadcasting in such a way that is so negative that it’s a discredit. And you steer into that Robbie because it’s traction for your product.

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SJ: “When you talk about controversy Robbie, I’m not controversial. Find me a point where I’m controversial? I’m authentic, there’s nothing controversial about me.”

RL: “You’re not controversial? That’s the only reason you’re on here! You’re on here because you’re controversial, you’re no different to Troopz or DT, you just speak in a different accent. You are controversial, you not on here because you’re an ex-player.”

SJ: “Robbie, I’m an ex-Premier League football club owner. I’m the youngest football club owner in the world.”

RL: “Yeah but you don’t go to games.”

SJ: “What’s that got to do with controversies?”

RL: “You’re on here because you’re a controversial figure.”

SJ: “I’m on here because I understand the business of football. That’s a silly comment.”

Jim White: “What did Troopz and DT do before they were hired to go on your channel?”

RL: “I don’t know what their jobs were, I think DT used to be a DJ, these are their jobs. They’re ordinary fans.”

SJ: “But Robbie, here’s the thing. Nobody has said at any point – this is a figment of your imagination, maybe an inferiority complex on your part – nobody has said that my opinion is more prevalent than yours.”

RL: “You did because you said you want it shut down.”