[imagesource: BBC]

I asked a Manchester United fan for his take on yesterday’s BBC News on-air blunder and his response was one word – “deserved”.

Tough to argue that after a season in which they finished sixth with a goal difference of zero. For context, champions Manchester City finished 35 points ahead of them with a goal difference of 73.

During a tennis update on the BBC News’ 9AM to 10AM broadcast, a message appeared on-screen reading “Manchester United are rubbish”.

There’s a mention of Boris Johnson and the Partygate scandal, Uyghur detention camps in China, and then, out of nowhere, Manchester United are slated:

Errrr… what is going on with the BBC News ticker? pic.twitter.com/fofbiGyMfs

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 24, 2022

My favourite part of the whole thing is actually what comes after that – “Weather rain everywhere”.

Two modern-day British truths.

More from The Guardian:

Later in the morning, the presenter Annita McVeigh apologised to any Manchester United fans who may have been offended, saying the mistake had occurred as someone was learning how to operate the ticker and was “writing random things not in earnest”.

She managed to keep a straight face while doing so:

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

Another Manchester United-supporting friend told me “that trainee gets it”.

Later, the BBC released a statement saying there was a “technical glitch during training with our test ticker, which rolled over to live programming for a few seconds”.

We understand. Nobody’s even that upset.

It actually brings to mind this kid’s comments from 2019:

The only fan to accept his club Manchester United is rubbish and he’ll go to heaven for that 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/etoAXeYp8C

— Akosua💙💙 (@EphraimAlonso1) April 9, 2022

Over to new manager Erik ten Hag to save the day.

[source:guardian]