‘Britain’s Most Insufferable YouTuber’ pops off the screen at you first. Next up in the search results are ‘The Thogden Files Got Worse’, ‘The Problem With Thogden’ and finally: ‘The Decay of Britain’s Most Insufferable YouTuber.’
Those five seconds of scrolling tell all about the public perception of a content creator who has long ‘rage-baited’ and infuriated football fans across the internet through his match-going vlogs and streams. Disliked or not, though, this is the style that grew ‘Thogden’ into the internet phenomenon he is today.
Born in Harrogate, Theo Ogden began his YouTube channel in 2014 while in secondary school, and has racked up a massive 2.7million subscribers and 1.6billion video views over the last 12 years. In recent years, his relentless social media output has spread to short-form content, posting to more than 700,000 followers on both TikTok and Instagram, and 150,000 more on X.
So why does someone who – based on the numbers – seems like a popular figure, receive so much vitriol on social media?
Mostly, the annoyance comes through the perceived irritating and cringeworthy nature of Thogden’s videos, particularly short-form content. He is a product of Mr Beast’s ever-growing cultural impact on the industry, with his overdramatic presentation style clearly catered to a younger audience.
The bizarre, childish challenges at matches, such as when he went to an Atletico Madrid match to talk in what he called ‘Naija’, (it was actually Nigerian Pidgin), until Ademola Lookman, who plays for Nigeria at international level, scored a goal. The former Fulham and Everton winger did not score. This modern approach is cringe-inducing, and in the Lookman case almost offensive, but it laps up the views.
Born in Harrogate, Theo ‘Thogden’ Ogden began his YouTube channel in 2014 while in secondary school, and has racked up 2.7million subscribers and 1.6billion video views
Thogden made his name live-blogging from the stands at England games, offering a new perspective that has been mimicked by countless copycats
His cringe-inducing formats strike a chord with the internet generation – such as speaking ‘Naija’ throughout an Atletico Madrid match in tribute to Nigeria winger Ademola Lookman
The Bolton Wanderers fan, who grew up in Greater Manchester before moving to West Hampstead, north London in his late teens, first went viral during the 2018 World Cup in Russia – where his mother is from – as he followed Gareth Southgate’s England all the way to the heartbreaking semi-final defeat by Croatia.
However, it was Euro 2020 where the then 20-year-old’s popularity took off. The Three Lions fanatic gave supporters a different perspective of matches, vlogging from the stands in a style that has given rise to a thousand copycats. He continued this style into club football at various teams – including his beloved Bolton – and grew his following further and further.
But with this sort of exposure came a new level of scrutiny from doomscrollers. His comment sections were soon rife with invective language from supporters who didn’t enjoy his ‘main character syndrome’ and criticised the number of games he was able to get to at the expense of diehard fans.
Speaking on The Fellas podcast in 2023, Thogden said: ‘If I go to a Leeds game, and I show people how good the Leeds atmosphere is, I’m showing hundreds of thousands of people who don’t know from inside the stadium. So, I’m doing a lot for them. And in return, they are constantly saying, “Oh, why’s he there? Why does he have a ticket?”
‘Well you’re allowing loads of new people to potentially become a Leeds fan from abroad, from wherever. I don’t think people look at the full picture.’
But the full picture of his YouTube feed also shows why he’s become so polarising.
During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was shrouded in controversy surrounding human rights issues, Thogden attended all 64 matches at the tournament alongside his father Stephen Ogden, better known in his regular appearances on YouTube as ‘Thogdad’.
The pair partnered with Crypto.com for the project, a firm that has a partnership with Donald Trump’s social media company ‘Truth Social’.
Thogden attended all 64 matches at the 2022 World Cup alongside his father Stephen Ogden, better known in his regular appearances on YouTube as ‘Thogdad’
His comment sections were soon rife with invective language from supporters who criticised the number of games he was able to get to at the expense of diehard fans
Then there was Thogden’s partnership with the Saudi tourist board. When Newcastle lifted the Carabao Cup last year, their first domestic trophy in 70 years, he encouraged Newcastle fans to celebrate the triumph by visiting Boulevard World, an entertainment district in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
‘Where’s the after party? Saudi Arabia! Just imagine Boulevard World, full of black and white – and it’s actually easy to get there,’ he shamelessly proclaimed, in ‘conversation’ with Thogdad for a TikTok post labelled as a ‘paid partnership’. ‘Sun, celebrations, and probably Joelinton on a camel.’
It was in stark contrast to a video he made with ‘Thogdad’ four years earlier, when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) purchased a majority stake in Newcastle.
In a video titled: ‘The Truth about Newcastle United’s New Owners’, he told celebrating Newcastle fans: ‘Just have a little search into Yemen (where Saudi forces have been helping the government crackdown on Houthi rebels, with the country suffering a crippling famine), find out what’s going on there, and then come back and realise, that’s behind your club. Really assess, do you think that’s the right decision?’
A perfect example of how money can change opinions.
There is then Thogden’s love of Morocco, but that is evidently a product of the views and adoration he gets from their football fans whenever he posts about them. Why else would he proclaim, ‘I feel Moroccan’ and that he bleeds ‘red and green’ while sporting a Morocco shirt at the World Cup?
That video almost encapsulates Thogden. He is so wrapped up in chasing clicks and going viral that he is happy to change his ways to suit his audience. Morocco fans are viewing my content? Let me suddenly claim I am one of them.
Moreover, there is his love of being the main character, which is a trait his most avid haters use as a stick to beat him with. A podcast with Sky Sports’ Adam Smith from last year went viral for how Thogden claimed that Lionel Messi, who he met at a VIP event in Miami, would remember him and that, in reference to arguably the greatest footballer that has ever lived, ‘there would be a smile on his face’ if they did meet again.
Thogden has focused a lot of his content on Morocco, having found himself popular with their fans
With Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi
Thogden’s content is emblematic of the direction football media is going in. He was a poster boy for Sky Sports when they entered the ‘creatorsphere’, regularly appearing on Saturday Social – the influencer-led show that replaced the iconic Soccer AM and is infinitely less enjoyable to watch.
We are in an age where clicks drive content and whether people like it or not, Thogden gets those clicks. You could compare him to boxing and UFC influencer Jake Paul – people love to hate him, but that just bolsters his viewership, visibility, and his bank account.
Thogden is believed to have made most of his money through brand deals, posting videos collaborating with paid partners on social media. In the past year alone, he has worked with Pepperami, Super Snacks, Polymarket – a prediction market platform – and, biggest of all, Nike.
A financial expert within the creator industry told Daily Mail Sport that these partnerships may not be as lucrative for Thogden as you might expect, as brands such as Crypto.com and Polymarket ‘may like to offer tickets’ (freebies) to the creator in return for ‘integrated’ videos.
However, those brands may also offer money based on a ‘pay-per-thousand-views’ basis (known as a CPM, or Cost Per Mille). The financial expert tells Daily Mail Sport: ‘In industries like banking and crypto, they can pay much higher CPMs. So they might pay £40 to £60 per 1,000 views. Depending on which kind of brands, you could be making anything from £15,000 to £30,000 per video.’
Despite the opportunities on offer given his enormous social media following, Thogden has previously revealed he does not take money from companies for videos during tournaments such as the World Cup, inferring that these are gifted partnerships in which they supply travel, accommodation, and tickets.
His accounts suggest that this may be his business model. According to filings at Companies House, Thogden is the director of two companies, Thogden Ltd and Burford Browns Ltd, but they are effectively the same business.
The former was renamed to the latter in 2024 and Thogden Ltd survived a compulsory strike-off earlier this year. It was served a first gazette notice for appearing to be inactive but subsequently avoided being dissolved after confirming to the registrar that ‘its intended future activities are lawful’.
Meeting Lionel Messi in 2024. Thogden later claimed ‘there would be a smile on (Messi’s) face’ if they did meet again
He was in full effect at the 2026 World Cup, posting from high-profile matches including the final
Burford Browns Ltd, as his production company is now known, has net assets of £631,264, as of its latest accounts. Handy, for sure, but not the trappings of a man living a complete life of luxury.
There is a common misconception in this day and age that influencers and content creators are living in mansions that seem out of this world and have swimming pools filled with cash in the back garden. There are the likes of Mr Beast and Charli D’Amelio, who have made their millions and become internet celebrities from growing Gen Z audiences whose eyes are permanently glued to screens. But they are the headline acts.
The majority of creators still willingly take on gifted partnerships alongside paid brand deals, earning an honest, healthy salary alongside enviable perks – such as football matches in Thogden’s case – while enjoying a relatively down-to-earth life.
And despite the controversies, despite the wacky formats and the criticism, Thogden carries on. If we truly are seeing the ‘decay of Britain’s most insufferable YouTuber’, then it clearly still has a way to run.
