Today was the day that Louis van Gaal was reportedly going to lose his job as Manchester United manager.
We read it on Twitter, so it must be true.
We even had a time that the axe would fall – 2:30pm to be precise, coinciding with the opening of the New York Stock Exchange when the Glazers were supposedly set to release a statement.
BREAKING: A close source at Old Trafford has suggested that Louis Van Gaal is going to be sacked this afternoon, once the New York SE opens.
— Tony Didcott – Journalist (@TonyDSport) December 21, 2015
So the world pulled up a chair, some popcorn and sat gawping at the internet waiting for the news of the Dutchman’s demise to drop.
Only it didn’t happen. There was nothing coming out of the club and all the ITKs fell silent.
But that didn’t stop some cheeky trolls winding up Manchester United fans with an old ‘Breaking News’ tweet from April 2014 – when David Moyes was given the old heave-ho.
For anyone expecting Van Gaal gone by 2:31pm they probably didn’t even check the date on the tweet…
BREAKING: Ryan Giggs will assume first-team responsibility at #mufc until a permanent manager is appointed. More: http://t.co/883hYw50DK
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 22, 2014
To the naked eye it probably confirmed what most people expected – Giggs as caretaker before Jose Mourinho rode in on a white horse to save the club from another mediocre season.
And so the trolling began.
https://twitter.com/afc_Mat/status/678948309625675776
https://twitter.com/YouGotKlopped/status/678948150028144640
https://twitter.com/JackWrightt/status/678947721051570176
SCENESSSSSSSS https://t.co/BXR1gYQCzi
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) December 21, 2015
And people fell for it, apparently.
https://twitter.com/chazzaot111/status/678947841759420417
@FootyAccums @ManUtd I actually fell for that hahahahaha
— Ryan (@OhffsRyan) December 21, 2015
https://twitter.com/IainScottF1/status/678948300607922176
https://twitter.com/Champions_19UTD/status/678954888030736385
