Bloke not cutting hair until Man Utd win five games in a row is filled with fear

EXCLUSIVE: Manchester United-mad Frank Ilett has taken the internet by storm with his curious method of piling pressure on Ruben Amorim and his beleaguered boys, as they continue to meander aimlessly through the season

Footy fans will go to great lengths to give their team a kick up the backside, but Frank Ilett is taking things to the extreme.

Online he goes by the United Strand, where he has garnered attention from the masses for promising not to cut his hair until Manchester United wins five games in a row.

He’s got the natural lid for it, too. Now close to 190 days into his odyssey, his thick black locks stand out straight in all directions thanks to his trusty comb, which he claims is all he uses for his hair care routine.

“I didn’t expect it to go on for this long,” he told the Daily Star over Zoom. “I thought it was just a fun thing to do for a few months while there was a bad patch for Manchester United but it's been going on for a lot longer than expected. I have no idea when it's going to end now but I’m committed to the end.”

Inspired by a similar stunt pulled by an NFL fan in the US, he decided their approach of doing three games wouldn’t last long enough, now a laughable thought.

“I should have probably gone with three, but I thought that was too easy, stupidly, at the start.”

“I'm committed now, it’s too big now to stop. I have to go till the end – I’m committed, I’ll keep going even if it takes seasons and seasons.”

The lifelong fan isn’t from the North West, rather near Oxford, but was raised a Red Devil by family ties.

The 28-year-old currently lives in Spain with his partner and their 10-month-old daughter and says his family are supportive of the whacky stunt.

“My family, loads of them, are Man United fans, so you almost don’t get a choice do you, you get given which team you’re going to support,” he explained. “I’m happy, I’ve supported them my entire life, that's my team.

“[My family] are just enjoying the journey and laughing with me.”

He reckons he knows what the problems are at United, saying: “A lot of bad decisions are catching up. I think there needs to be a massive clearout. Outgoing are more important than incoming at the moment. We need to start again. It needs to be the right attitude – there’s obviously something behind the scenes, the last however-many managers haven't got it right, so it can’t be the managers’ fault… I would be ok with a lot of people going… its time to be ruthless.”

Frank did eventually give up when he thought he might finally be able to trim his locks, but he doesn’t think it will be any time soon. “I thought it was going to end in January this year,” he said, “I saw some winnable games when I started it in October (2024), and thought it was cool.

“There’s only nine games left in the season, potentially 12 with Europa, so it wouldn't take many losses for there to not be five games in a row left, so I think it would be next season now.

“I think if I was going to bet I think it would be January next year (2026). The last time Man united won five games in a row was between January and February 2024… hopefully I’m wrong."