Manchester United have handed an indefinite ban to a thug who assaulted Frank Illet, the fan refusing to get his hair cut until the club win five games in a row.
Illet has garnered a huge following on social media with his hair-raising stunt, which he began over a year ago when the Red Devils were in the grips of a miserable winless run under previous manager Erik ten Hag.
Providing regular updates to his Instagram followers under the handle ‘The United Strand’, Illet has pledged to ‘keep going until it’s done’ – and the ballsy challenge has yielded quite startling results.
United’s continued malaise at the start of Ruben Amorim’s reign has not only boosted the size of Illet’s barnet, but also his follower count, which now stands on the cusp of 500,000.
However, one less-than-impressed fan took issue with Illet’s antics when they came face to face during United’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford last month.
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A video which was widely shared on social media showed the supporter in question coming up behind and violently shaking Illet by his curly locks with some force in the concourse.
After receiving an immediate backlash, the bald-headed individual proceeded to yell, ‘F*** off, I’ll do what I f***ing want!, before screaming, ‘He’s not a United f***ing fan so f*** off!’, with young children clearly visible in the vicinity.
According to Mail Online, the fan has since been identified and banned from the Theatre of Dreams for an indefinite period.
A defiant Illet, who was flooded with messages of love and support after the shocking footage went viral, has made it clear he has no intention of going back on his promise.
‘It was always and always will be to spread humour and positivity to United fans in a difficult time,’ he told the Manchester Evening News after the attack.
‘I have, of course, been a Manchester United fan my entire life and my intention with this challenge was never to highlight Manchester United’s flaws.’
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He added: ‘It was all a bit weird to be honest. I will always try to focus on the positives and hope that this was just a one off.
‘I thought he was just joking to start with, but then he started yanking my hair and calling me an ‘attention seeking c**t’.
‘The whole day was full of hundreds of positive interactions yesterday and 99 per cent of all of the reactions to this challenge have been nice. But just a few people can ruin it!
‘Like I’ve said before, I never expected it to go on for so long, but I’m hopeful we can go on a good run soon and I, more than most… want these wins to come as soon as possible.’
Illet, now 382 days into the stunt, may have allowed himself to start dreaming of that elusive trim at the weekend as United stunned bitter rivals Liverpool, in what was the club’s first triumph at Anfield since as far back as 2016.
It was the first time that Amorim had recorded back-to-back victories since taking charge of United, who now find themselves ninth in the Premier League table.
After the dramatic win on Merseyside, Illet even got a shoutout from United full-back Diogo Dalot, who told DAZN: ‘Let’s see. We hope that we can give him that haircut.
‘But we have to go game by game. Obviously, we know this is a very difficult league, we have tough games.
‘And, of course, we have to go after that consistency that we have lacked because we have already shown in the past that we can compete against any team in the world.
‘We get to the big games, we get to have good performances. Now it’s trying to make it happen every game.
‘We now have the next game at home and that’s what’s important to us.’
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