The BBC has issued an on-air apology after text appeared revealing "Manchester United are rubbish".

The presenter had to explain that the contribution was the work of a trainee who was learning to use the device and had posted a message accidentally.

"A little earlier, some of you may have noticed something pretty unusual on the ticker that runs along the bottom of the screen with news making a comment about Manchester United, and I hope that Manchester United fans weren't offended by it.

"Let me just explain what was happening: behind the scenes someone was training to learn how to use the ticker and to put text on the ticker, so they were just writing random things not in earnest and that comment appeared.

"So apologies if you saw that and you were offended and you're a fan of Manchester United.

"But certainly that was a mistake and it wasn't meant to appear on the screen. So that was what happened, we just thought we'd better explain that to you."

Social media users argued the intern's actions represented "fair and accurate reporting" after the club's lowest points haul since the advent of the Premier League.