Bayern Munich's Facebook publicity stunt backfired on themselves after failing to deliver on a promised 'big signing' via the social website.

An announcement on Bayern Munich's official facebook page announce that the club was going to sign a new offensive player and asked for fans to log on to the page at 2pm CET for the live press conference.

The news triggered fervent discussion of the rumoured signing which spread to other social platforms like Twitter. Manchester United's Dimitar Berbatov, Manchester City's Carlos Tevez and Basel's Xherdan Shaqiri were all mentioned, having been linked to the club in recent weeks.

When the fans logged on to the press conference at the appointed time, club manager Christian Nerlinger was on the 'live' broadcast to unveil the new signing, only for the fan to see their own facebook profile picture appear and name appear on Bayern's number eight jersey.

Nerlinger then explained: "Dear fans, you probably already noticed, that we did not sign a new player. This app is for our fans to show the importance of you for our club."

The club's official website later put up the line: "Every single FCB fan is the 'spectacular new signing,' our 12th man!"

Fans were clearly not amused by the club's antics, especially after missing out on signing Borussia Monchengladbach's Marco Reus, and proceeded to vent their disappointment at the club's profile.

At last count, around 5180 comments were posted on the page within 12 hours, most of them lambasting the club's latest failure.

The club later put up an apology and explained that the app was developed to bring fans closer to the club with more personal videos and updates.

Despite the negative reaction from the fans, Bayern Munich are still looking to bring in a striker over the January transfer window.