MANCHESTER UNITED’S draw with Nottingham Forest, on paper at least, might not have been the worst result in the world.
An away draw against a physically imposing team who are in Europe this season, notwithstanding Forest’s shocking start in the league, would be a result Ruben Amorim would certainly have taken given the limitations of his current squad.
However, for social media savvy fans, one narrative dominated above all others.
That being The United Strand, the Red Devils fan not cutting his hair until the club win five games in a row, having to delay his haircut.
Frank Ilett, the fan behind the hair-larious challenge, told SunSport in March he committed to five games in a row because United had achieved the feat in February 2024 under former boss Erik ten Hag.
But winning five games in a row in all competitions is no easy feat, as Ilett is brutally finding out.
SunSport have looked at the managerial record of some of the Premier League’s top bosses to see how long it took them to win five in a row following their appointment.
And it might come as no surprise the exception to the rule when it comes to the alleged difficulty of the challenge is Manchester City’s serial-winning boss Pep Guardiola.
The City boss hit the ground running when he was appointed as the Etihad outfit’s manager in 2016 and won five in a row within his first 15 days in charge, which included two qualifying matches for the Champions League.
That was amid an incredible 10-game run which ran all the way into late September before City’s flawless record came to an end.
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Guardiola’s pupil Mikel Arteta took far longer to win five on the spin, two years to be exact.
The Spaniard took charge of his first Gunners match on 26 December 2019, and eventually hit the magic five wins in a row number some 731 days – or two years to the day – on.
Reigning champions Liverpool took less than three months from the start of the season to achieve five wins in a row under Arne Slot during their title winning campaign.
Slot’s side hit the magic number five during an eight-game run from the start of September going into late October, which included two wins in the Champions League.
His predecessor, Jurgen Klopp, took the best part of a year to rack up five wins on the spin – finally managing the feat for the first time from September 10 2016 through to October 1.
The five in a row feat has also been achieved by Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner and Aston Villa‘s Unai Emery.
But how about former Manchester United managers?
To date, Amorim is the only permanent manager the club has had in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era who is yet to win five games in a row.
In fact, Amorim, 40, is the only United manager in the post-Ferguson era NOT to have won five in a row within six months of their first game in charge.
Although the circumstances behind Amorim’s poor record relate to an inferior squad compared to his predecessors, regardless of the millions spent on them.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the quickest to reach five straight wins, doing so within 15 days of his first game as interim manager.
Louis van Gaal was second on this list at 114 days, with David Moyes (131 days), Jose Mourinho (134 days), and Ten Hag (146 days) following suit within a similar timeframe.
Ironically, Ferguson is the last United boss not to win five games in a row in their first year in charge before Amorim, with the legendary Scot taking 462 days to get up to five wins in charge.
Amorim’s first game in charge of United was on 24 November 2024.
Following the draw with Nottingham Forest, the earliest United can now reach five wins in a row would be December 8.
If United can bounce back and beat Tottenham, Everton, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Wolves that will finally spell the end of the viral challenge.
And it would make it 410 days after Amorim’s first game in charge that he would have chalked up five wins on the bounce.
