For any Manchester United fan these days, the phrase “tearing your hair out” isn’t just an expression – it’s a daily ritual. The team’s performances are enough to make even the most stoic Red Devil reach for a stress ball, or perhaps, for their own scalp. But for one dedicated supporter, Frank Ilett, that particular coping mechanism is strictly off-limits. In fact, the worse his beloved United plays, the longer his hair gets.
Meet Frank Ilett, a Red Devils fanatic currently residing in Spain, whose impressive, ever-growing mane owes everything to Manchester United’s shocking results on the field. When CNN Sports recently caught up with Frank, it had been a staggering 324 days since he last gave himself a buzzcut, embarking on what he thought would be a short, amusing adventure.
“Back in October, I started the challenge of not cutting my hair until Man United win five games in a row,” Frank explained. “I thought it would just be a bit of fun for a few months and, obviously, it’s gone on for a lot longer than expected!”
Watching hair grow can be as slow as watching paint dry, but a quick scroll through Frank’s TikTok channel, aptly named “theunitedstrand,” reveals a dramatic transformation. What began as a neat trim has blossomed into a voluminous bouffant, a tangled weave now capable of concealing an apple or, as he comically demonstrated on day 225, a lit candle (with the responsible caution: “Don’t try this at home”).
United, once the most envied club in England with 13 Premier League titles, has undeniably lost its spark. Frank began his unique protest last fall, during the dying embers of manager Erik ten Hag’s reign, as a way to inject some much-needed levity into a difficult period.
“I just wanted to make fellow Man United fans laugh in a difficult time,” he said. “I didn’t expect it to be so difficult.” He admits a touch of over-optimism: “I almost went for three in a row and, you know, me being me at the time, feeling optimistic, I went, ‘Three’s too easy, isn’t it?’ So, I thought, I’ve got to make it a bit more of a challenge otherwise people won’t be interested. Looking back on it now, maybe that was a bit too optimistic.”
“A bit too optimistic” is an understatement. Frank nearly achieved his goal in January, with wins against Rangers and Steaua Bucharest sandwiching a Premier League victory over Fulham. Three in a row would have sent him straight to the barbershop. Instead, he’s now facing the grim reality that his next haircut could be a distant dream.
The rules of the challenge are simple: five consecutive wins in any competitive match. Pre-season friendlies don’t count, “not that it would have made a difference,” he quipped, given United only won two of their seven warm-up games.
“It’s been a bit of a tough start to the season,” he conceded after United picked up just one point from their first two league matches. And things only got grimmer. Days after speaking with CNN Sports, United suffered what many are calling the most humiliating defeat in their fabled history: a League Cup loss to fourth-division club Grimsby Town. To perfectly capture the despair, Frank updated his followers from a running shower, his matted hair drooping past his cheekbones. “Still at zero,” he deadpanned, a trickle of water running off his nose. (It’s worth noting that United finished a dismal 15th place last season, adding context to the steep challenge.)
Despite the mounting discomfort – including the “absolutely boiling” heat generated by his flowing locks – Frank Ilett remains steadfast. He dreams of the day the Red Devils finally turn things around, envisioning the fifth game of a winning streak as his own “mini-Champions League final.” He plans to attend that pivotal match in person, though he admits the thought of them getting so close and then blowing it would be “absolutely heartbreaking.”
Frank’s commitment is unwavering: no cut until five in a row. Meanwhile, the club’s fortunes remain precarious. The provided text, perhaps a little behind on managerial changes, quotes “United boss Ruben Amorim” (likely a reference to Erik ten Hag in this context) as saying, “Sometimes, I want to quit, sometimes I want to be here for 20 years, sometimes I hate my players, sometimes I love my players.” This sentiment echoes the rollercoaster frustration of Frank Ilett and the wider fanbase.
It’s hard to predict when Frank will finally sit down in a barber’s chair, but when he does, the groomer will certainly have their work cut out for them. By that point, his hair might not just be long; it might have turned gray, not from old age, but from the sheer, unadulterated stress of having to watch Manchester United play football.
