Manchester United have confirmed that Bruno Fernandes’s X account was hacked, swiftly explaining away a series of outrageous social media posts from the club captain’s feed on Sunday evening.
In the hours after Fernandes and his United teammates were dumped out of the FA Cup third round by Brighton & Hove Albion, some unusual activity began to emerge under the name of the Portugal international.
“Let’s get rid of INEOS” was one of the incendiary posts aimed at the club’s minority co-owners. Freshly crowned Darts World Champion and proud Manchester United fan, Luke Littler, was challenged to a game of FIFA while Cristiano Ronaldo and YouTuber KSI also got unsavoury mentions.
United delivered a message on the same platform revealing that Fernandes had been hacked and imploring supporters to “not engage with any of the posts of direct messages.” The compromised player account promptly replied, promising to “spread the word.”
Fernandes’s profile has since been restored to show that his last official message was in October, celebrating his 300th appearance for the club. While the issue was addressed relatively swiftly, it proved to be another moment of embarrassment in a season riddled with setbacks for the Red Devils.
Man Utd Slump to 111-Year Low Against Brighton
A poor start to the Manchester United INEOS era. pic.twitter.com/GPEg2d5m5E
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) January 11, 2026
United’s limp showing against Brighton at Old Trafford was hardly their worst cup result of the season. After being humiliated in the Carabao Cup second round by fourth-tier Grimsby Town, the Red Devils have been dumped out of both domestic cup competitions at the earliest opportunity for the first time since 1981–82.
You have to wind the tape back to 1914–15 to find the last time Manchester United played as few as 40 games across all competitions in a single season. That campaign perhaps should never have lasted as long given the outbreak of the First World War. United may have wished that it hadn’t.
The Red Devils finished a pitiful 18th in the 20-team league table, avoiding relegation simply because only the bottom club faced the drop that year as the English top-flight was reconstructed to host 22 teams in the aftermath of the Great War.
The modern day sense of institutional incompetence was just as prevalent back then—although with a more sinister undertone.
United only finished two points above rock-bottom Tottenham Hotspur by two points earned in a 2–0 win against Liverpool on Good Friday, 1915. It was later discovered that the result had been fixed and led to the life-ban of eight players split across both clubs.
For all the chaos raining down upon the current iteration of United, it isn’t quite as bad as grand conspiracy and relegation just yet. In fact, for all the efforts of the board, the manager-less outfit are seventh in the Premier League, just one point adrift of Brentford in fifth which may be enough for Champions League qualification.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Man Utd Respond As Bruno Fernandes’s X Account Hacked With Anti-INEOS Post.
