"I don't care about his haircut at all, Matheus Cunha said this week. I don't really look at other people if they need to go to the hairdresser or not, Bruno Fernandes said at the weekend. Michael Carrick, for his part, said he was aware of the haircut issue. But the Manchester United coach insisted it would not factor into his team's preparations for their game against West Ham on Tuesday night."
"Many games of football end up being remembered for reasons far outstripping their original significance: the 1914 Christmas Truce, the 1962 Battle of Santiago, the 2020 pandemic curtainraiser between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid. To these we can add the Haircut Game: a mildly arresting 1-1 Premier League draw at the London Stadium that posterity will nevertheless recall as the game when a man did not get his hair cut at the end."
"On the video streaming platform Kick, a quarter of a million viewers watched a live feed of the unshorn Frank Ilett now known as The United Strand watching his beloved United going for a fifth consecutive win that would free him from his pilar purgatory. As United conceded an early goal through Tomas Soucek, the camera would occasionally zoom in on Ilett, a lifelong United fan now fatally trapped, Januslike, between two countervailing faces of devotion."
A Manchester United fan pledged in October 2024 not to cut his hair until the team won five games in a row in all competitions. The pledge transformed into viral fame, social media followers, and commercial interest, including a talent agency deal and content-creation opportunities. Media coverage and live streams focused heavily on the fan's uncut hair during United's 1-1 draw with West Ham, overshadowing match buildup and analysis. Players and staff commented that the haircut would not affect preparations, yet the fan's visible predicament and accumulating attention made the hair the dominant narrative surrounding the game.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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