BBC forced to apologise over 'Manchester United are rubbish' gaffe

Talk about kicking Manchester United fans when they're down...

Not only did supporters have to pick between the red or the blue pill in the Premier League title race, they also saw their miserable Premier League season end in defeat.

The 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace was hardly a surprise, such has been United’s dramatic demise under Ralf Rangnick.

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Their 58 points was the lowest tally a United team has ever amassed in the Premier League era, with their place in the Europa League only secured by virtue of other results going their way.

But Monday marked a new era with Old Trafford, with Erik ten Hag unveiled to the watching nation as the club’s fifth permanent successor to Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Dutchman comes on the back of a successful four-and-a-half-year stint with Ajax and has the reputation of playing free-flowing exciting football.

However, there’s still a long way to go in terms of repairing the reputation of the 13-time Premier League winners, who have gone from the nation’s most hated to a laughing stock up and down the country.

And those tuning into BBC News on Tuesday were given an accidental glimpse into one member’s opinion on the state of play at Old Trafford.

During a news bulletin at around 9.35am, viewers spotted that the ticker at the bottom of the screen read: "Manchester United are rubbish.”

On recent evidence at least, few would disagree, but the impartial BBC were forced to address the incident, apologising and explaining that it was a result of a trainee writing “random things” that were not supposed to be broadcast live.

Speaking a couple of hours after the incident, an anchor addressed the incident and said: