The words “Manchester United are rubbish” were emblazoned on BBC News coverage following a technical blunder.
The text appeared on screen for several seconds on the ticker that runs along the bottom of the screen during news broadcasts during a bulletin on Tursday morning.
The blunder, which appeared below footage from this year’s French Open, has prompted an apology from the BBC News channel.
The broadcaster explained that a trainee was learning how to write text for the ticker and accidentally published the “random” remark onto the live show.
Newsreader Annita McVeigh, who was hosting the programme at the time, 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. They were just writing random things – not in earnest – and that comment appeared.
“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 wasn’t meant to appear on the screen. We just thought we better explain that to you.”
A BBC spokesperson added: “There was a technical glitch during training with our test ticker, which rolled over to live programming for a few seconds. We apologised for any offence caused on air.”
Today’s events are unlikely to cause much of a stir at Old Trafford, but the corporation has been involved in more intense rows with the club in the past.
Manchester United’s former manager Sir Alex Ferguson refused to give post-match interviews to the broadcaster between 2004 and 2011 after a BBC documentary made allegations against his son Jason.
