West Ham Mock The United Strand in Brutal Post After Holding Man Utd to Draw

West Ham have taken a not-so-subtle dig at social media personality The United Strand after they prevented the viral fan from getting a haircut thanks to their 1-1 draw against Manchester United.

Coming into Tuesday night's game at the London Stadium, one of the biggest talking points was The United Strand, real name Frank Ilett.

Ilett, who has built a significant following across a range of social media platforms, promised in 2024 that he would only get his hair cut once United won five consecutive matches.

The 29-year-old witnessed a close shave in October 2025, when United recorded three wins on the trot under Ruben Amorim.

But almost 500 days after starting the challenge and Ilett was just one win away from a trip to the barbers thanks to victories in the Premier League over Manchester City, Arsenal, Fulham and Tottenham

United's win streak would have extended to five if they managed to overcome West Ham on Tuesday night, but Michael Carrick's side could only record a 1-1 draw, meaning Ilett was left heartbroken.

In fact, at one stage, almost 300,000 viewers watched on as the viral fan reacted to the result on popular streaming platform Kick.

The build-up to this week's game in London was dominated by The United Strand. In fact, he was brought up on TNT Sports' coverage, with former West Ham forward Michail Antonio mentioning the fan in his post-match comments.

"They're unbeaten in five, beat Arsenal, beat Man City," Antonio said. "Today, obviously, they would have wanted the win. Especially for that guy... I can't remember his name, but he wanted his hair cut. You ain't cutting it now."

Manchester City also sent a message to The United Strand via their official US-based account, posting a photo of striker Erling Haaland alongside the caption: "Nothing wrong with growing your hair out."

And now, United's opponents West Ham have posted a TikTok video that has been captioned: "Cancel the appointment".

As seen in the post above, the clip begins with an AI-dubbed voiceover from Ilett as Tomas Soucek opened the scoring. It says: "Day 1000 of not cutting my hair until Manchester United win five games in a row."

Moments later, numerous West Ham players can be seen getting a haircut, including Crysencio Summerville and Callum Wilson.

Wayne Rooney gives his no-nonsense take on The United Stand

Ahead of Tuesday night's clash at the London Stadium, United legend Wayne Rooney made his feelings abundantly clear on Ilett and his much-talked-about haircut challenge.

Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Rooney was asked if he would get the clippers out for Illett.

“[No.] I’d put him on the other side of the country," said Rooney. “He’s doing my head in. We’re talking about Michael Carrick and Man United trying to win their fifth game in a row and the whole thing is about a guy getting his haircut"

Rooney added: "I bet he'd be devastated if Man United win the fifth game, because all of a sudden he's irrelevant."