BBC viewers were left in hysterics after an intern wrote “Manchester United are rubbish” on the ticker of their live news channel.
The message appeared on TV screens at 9.35am on Tuesday morning – before being sprawled across social media moments later.
UPDATE: BBC News have apologised.
They say that a trainee was learning how to write text for the ticker and accidentally published them onto the BBC News Channel. pic.twitter.com/OkjPIkJAoo
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 24, 2022
The BBC anchor was then forced to apologise for the mishap two hours later.
She said: “A little earlier, some of you may have noticed something pretty unusual on the ticker that runs along the bottom of the screen with news making a comment about Manchester United, and I hope that Manchester United fans weren’t offended by it.
“Let me just explain what was happening: behind the scenes someone was training to learn how to use the ticker and to put text on the ticker, so they were just writing random things not in earnest and that comment appeared.
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“So apologies if you saw that and you were offended and you’re a fan of Manchester United.
“But certainly that was a mistake and it wasn’t meant to appear on the screen. So that was what happened, we just thought we’d better explain that to you.”
A BBC statement to the PA news agency added: “There was a technical glitch during training with our test ticker, which rolled over to live programming for a few seconds.
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Reacting to the mishap on social media, one person wrote: “Pep [Guardiola] starting his summer job 🤣🤣🤣🤣.”
Another added: “I really hope the trainee doesn’t feel too bad.
“Because honestly that mistake was actually legendary and we all salute you.”
While a Red Devils fan added: “I mean, even as a Man Utd supporter, they’re not wrong.”
Man Utd finished sixth in the Premier League table this season, a dismal return after they had hoped to challenge for the title.
Not only have they ended up a huge 35 points adrift of league winners Manchester City, they have also missed out on qualification for the Champions League.
And they ended their Premier League campaign with a 12th defeat of the season at the hands of Crystal Palace.
United fans will be hoping new manager Erik ten Hag can turn things around at Old Trafford.
The Dutchman conducted his first press conference as head coach on Monday.
Speaking about the situation, he told the Man Utd website: “[We must] accept the current situation but also know one year ago, this club was second in the Premier League.
“There’s potential and now it’s up to us to get that out. It’s a process, it will take time, but I’m convinced we will come to that point where we get success.
“We have to work hard and it has to be based on the right philosophy and strategy.
“In certain positions we want to renew the squad, but as I said, one year ago, this squad was second in the league, so there is potential and I’m really looking forward to co-operating with the squad.
“I have to build, starting a new relationship with the squad, with my players.
” I have high expectations from myself and that is also what I demand from my squad.
“They have to co-operate together and they have to give every day their best. And I would say, for me, good is not good enough. We have to do better.”