Manchester United players past and present were talking about fan Frank Ilett — known as “The United Strand” — and his viral haircut challenge ahead of their most recent Premier League clash, at West Ham United two weeks ago. It was journalists’ main line of questioning toward head coach Michael Carrick, and the most engaging prematch talking point for TV pundits.
“I don’t care about his haircut at all,” United midfielder Matheus Cunha said in the build-up to the game, while Old Trafford legend Paul Scholes said: “I just hope they win tomorrow night so that lad can get his haircut.”
Ilett’s challenge dominated the postmatch discourse, too, after United failed to register a fifth consecutive win which would have allowed Ilett to cut his hair for the first time in more than a year. Instead, they were held to a 1-1 draw which would have been a have been a defeat had Benjamin Sesko not scored with an exquisite flicked finish deep into added time.
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The result meant that United remain in fourth place, that the club’s push to qualify for next season’s Champions League keeps momentum, and that Carrick maintained his unbeaten record. It also meant that Ilett’s challenge, which began in October 2024, would continue for a while longer.
Last week, Ilett marked Day 500, his mop of hair longer than ever. If United don’t manage to win five in a row in their remaining 12 games of this campaign, then the challenge will roll into next season, which begins in August. That’s six more months.
So, if it is to end before the 2025-26 season comes to an end, what’s the best chance of doing so?
Five-game win streaks aren’t that hard
In an interview with ESPN in October to mark the one-year anniversary of his challenge, Ilett admitted things hadn’t quite gone to plan. “I thought it would only go for a few months and be a bit of a laugh,” he said. “It was something to spread humour to Man United fans during a difficult period of time.
“It didn’t feel unrealistic then, because the season before, they had won five games in a row.”
Ilett began his challenge eight months after United’s most recent five-game win streak — which they completed between January and February 2024. You can forgive him for thinking it wouldn’t take long. There have been 333 five-game win streaks in all competitions in the Premier League era (since 1992-93). For their part, United completed 58 of them. It wouldn’t take that long… would it?
A total of 10 teams have won five consecutive games since United last did so. Those include Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur. Most of the time, it happens with little fanfare: The latest example came at the weekend when City edged Newcastle 2-1 for their fifth-straight win in all competitions.
Still, for a long time, United never got close to doing the same. Only once did United manage three straight wins under former manager Ruben Amorim — a brief stretch last January in which them beat Rangers and Fenerbahce in the Europa League as well as a league win over Fulham.
Ilett may have wanted to provide some “fun” for United fans during a tough period for the club, but that message hasn’t always landed.
“He is doing my head in,” United legend Wayne Rooney told the BBC’s No Tippy, No Tappy podcast before the draw to West Ham.
“We are talking about Michael Carrick and Man United trying to win their fifth game in a row and the whole thing is about this guy getting his haircut. I bet he is devastated if Man United win because he will be irrelevant.”
Predicting where the challenge could end
This is where math comes into play. United have only 12 games left of a 40-game season, thanks to the absence of European football as well as early exits from the Carabao Cup (vs. Grimsby Town) and FA Cup (vs. Brighton).
Admittedly, it is not the easiest stretch. Only five of their 12 games come against bottom-half opposition. However, three of them come in their final three matches. Using Opta’s latest power ranking data, as well as factoring in home advantage, United’s statistically most favourable run is their final five games.
There is an against-the-clock element here, too. If United don’t win five games in a row between now and the end of the season, then Ilett will have to wait until the next Premier League season kicks off on Aug. 22, at which point it will be Day 688 … and counting.
