BBC apologises for ‘Manchester United are rubbish’ news ticker

The message appeared on screen during a Tuesday sports bulletin by the English broadcaster.

“Manchester United are rubbish,” the ticker read, along with another similarly-baffling message in the weather updates which said “weather rain everywhere”.

Soon afterwards, the presenter Annita McVeigh said the message was a mistake by someone who was learning how to operate the ticker, “writing random things not in earnest”.

“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,” said McVeigh during the broadcast. 

“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.”

She added: “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.”

Some people online, however, took the gaffe as a chance to poke fun at the English Premier League club, saying that the BBC was simply reporting the truth about United and no apology was needed.

“The only thing wrong is that it's not news; everyone already knows that United are rubbish,” wrote Twitter user @SarahNobleLD.

@UtdYam1 said: “Not a lie at all tbf, most honest thing to ever be reported by BBC”.

@discokidnap added: “Don’t see what the issue was with that ticker tbh. Completely fulfils the BBC’s remit to inform, educate and entertain.”

United finished sixth the Premier League on Sunday, with a goal difference of zero and closer on points to the relegation zone compared to rivals Manchester City, who took home the title.