Paul Machin explains the thinking behind Redmen TV’s Jurgen Klopp paywall decision

When Redmen TV released their final interview with Jurgen Klopp, the backlash was immediate and fierce.

What should have been a moment of reflection and celebration quickly became a flashpoint online, with some Liverpool supporters accusing the fan channel of being out of touch for initially placing the interview behind a paywall.

Speaking on The Football Historian Podcast, Redmen TV co-founder Paul Machin has now explained what actually happened — and why the decision was never as simple as fans were led to believe.

“Jurgen wanted us to interview him”

Machin revealed that the interview itself came about because Klopp actively wanted to speak to Redmen TV.

After years of working with the Liverpool manager — including interviews following the Champions League finals in Kiev and Madrid — Machin explained that Klopp felt he “owed” them one after previous plans had fallen through.

“He literally pulled me over at Anfield,” Machin said. “He knew he owed us one in his head.”

That context, he admitted, made the interview feel like a natural continuation of their existing relationship with the club — not a once-in-a-generation moment that needed to be treated differently.

The Redmen TV business reality

Machin was clear that the controversy can’t be understood without acknowledging how Redmen TV actually survives.

Their subscription service, Redmen Plus, is not a bonus product — it’s the financial backbone of the operation.

“That’s the core of the money that means I can afford to pay wages, roofs and electric bills,” he explained.

For previous Klopp interviews, the model had always been the same:

• Full interviews for subscribers

• A strong segment released publicly on YouTube

By Machin’s own admission, he never considered that this interview — Klopp’s final one — would be received any differently.

“I honestly never really gave it a thought.”

The moment it became clear something was wrong

Machin said the reaction online escalated far faster than expected, with criticism coming before Redmen TV had time to roll out their usual release plan.

“People never gave us the breathing room to go through the process,” he said.

Once he realised the depth of anger, Machin made a call that went against Redmen TV’s usual business instincts.

“I don’t care enough about our model to have people be this angry about it.”

The interview was released publicly — a decision he now stands by.

“This wasn’t an interview in 2018 — it was the final interview”

One of Machin’s most striking admissions was that he simply hadn’t framed the moment correctly at the time.

“This wasn’t an interview in 2018 or 2019. This was the final interview with Jurgen Klopp.”

In hindsight, he accepts that the historical weight of the moment meant it belonged in the public domain.

But that realisation came with a reminder of how fragile independent fan media can be.

“If that business goes away, our mortgage doesn’t get paid. There’s no clothes on the backs of my children.”

A telling moment at the AXA Training Centre

Perhaps the most revealing moment came not online, but inside Liverpool’s training ground.

While the backlash was ongoing, Machin was at AXA ahead of interviews with Klopp’s departing backroom staff when Virgil van Dijk approached him.

“He just said, ‘You guys are taking some heat on Twitter, aren’t you?’”

Van Dijk’s awareness of the situation underlined how visible — and personal — the episode had become.

“It was never done maliciously”

Machin rejected the idea that Redmen TV were exploiting fans or “cackling away at the money”.

“It was never done in a pernicious way,” he said. “We’ve got a business model, and that’s how it’s always worked.”

He also pushed back against the idea that everything should simply be free on YouTube.

“The money you make on YouTube is not enough to fund what this is.”

Higher production values, full-time staff and long-form projects — like their Jordan Henderson documentary — only exist because paid content subsidises everything else.

A balancing act that never goes away

Ultimately, Machin described the situation as an unavoidable tension between football culture and modern media economics.

“Football already rips fans off — I get that,” he said. “But the best stuff costs the most money to make.”

The Klopp interview controversy, he admitted, was a misstep — but one rooted in survival rather than greed.

“It has to be a business,” Machin said. “Otherwise, it falls apart.”

You can watch the full interview with Paul Machin via The Football Historian Podcast on YouTube: