Bruno Fernandes, the team’s captain, has bade farewell on Instagram.

“Thanks for everything boss! I appreciate the trust and the moments we share together, I wish you all the best in the future. Even knowing the last period isn’t been great from all of us I hope you fans can keep with you the good things the manager as done for our club!”

Odds on the next manager, via Oddschecker:

• Ruud van Nistelrooy 7/2

• Ruben Amorim 7/2

• Gareth Southgate 8/1

• Thomas Frank 8/1

• Kieran McKenna 14/1

• Michael Carrick 14/1

• Graham Potter 16/1

• Max Allegri 20/1

• Zinedine Zidane 25/1

• Simone Inzaghi 25/1

The Gary Neville viewpoint is here, via Sky Sports:

The big shock for me is how bad they’ve been with the new signings that have come in. I felt as though they would have enough to be able to get a decent level of performance together after a smoother transfer window, and that Erik ten Hag would get a level of stability.

The fact that they are 14th is unacceptable. You can’t be in 14th after nine or 10 games with the level of spend that’s occurred without being under significant pressure – and that’s what’s happened. I was hoping it would end differently. I think Manchester United fans were hoping that the manager would continue to keep his job and the faith shown in him in the summer would pay off. But it’s not been the case.

Some Ten Hag data via PA Media:

• With 70 wins from 128 games in charge, Ten Hag’s 54.7 per cent win record is actually the second-best of any United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement – behind only Jose Mourinho’s 58.3 per cent.

• The Dutchman lost 27.3 per cent of his games though, ahead of only David Moyes (29.4 per cent) and a spell as interim boss for Ralf Rangnick (27.6), as his side struggled to turn defeats into draws – just 23 games, or 18 per cent, ended all square.

• Ten Hag’s side conceded 165 goals in his time in charge, with their average of 1.29 per game topping even the figure in a lost half-season under Rangnick (37 in 29 games, 1.28 per game).

• Mourinho (0.84) and Louis van Gaal (0.95) kept their goals against average below one per match, with Moyes at 1.06 and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 1.09. Overall United had conceded almost exactly a goal a game between Ferguson’s retirement and Ten Hag’s appointment, 499 in 502 games.

• They have conceded four or more in a game seven times under Ten Hag, losing 6-3 and 7-0 to bitter rivals Manchester City and Liverpool respectively in his first season while in his second they let in three or more goals on more occasions (15) than they kept clean sheets (13).

• Ten Hag is only the second post-Ferguson manager with multiple trophies to his name, adding last season’s FA Cup to the 2022-23 Carabao Cup.

Karen Asad gets in touch: “FA Cup win last season, as sweet a memory as it was, masked the obvious flaws of ETH team. This season he had the players and no difference; because serious teams don’t take shelter in these kinds of excuses.

“A lot of questionable transfer decisions will leave United to count the costs for the foreseeable future. I think ETH wasn’t ambitious enough. He invested more than anybody but act like he’s been tasked with delivering cup glory to a medium-sized club. We assumed he’ll be in the same league as Pep & Klopp but he really wasn’t.”

Here is Ruud himself:

Nicholas Ridgman gets in touch: “Of all the post-Fergie management faragos, this is the hardest to understand.

“To finish third, 14pts of the top, with a trophy, in his first season, was a pretty impressive achievement. This was largely with a squad he inherited. Then the more of his preferred players came in, the more incomprehensible the tactics became.

“What’s also odd is the general togetherness of the squad seems fine. None of the poor body language / dressing-room leaks we saw in other managers’ endgames. How did he seemingly manage to keep this unity while utterly tanking the team’s fortunes?”

Rio Ferdinand, a backer of Ole Gunnar Solskjær you may recall, has his man already.

OK, here’s the first runner and rider to shake off the list.

Not sure he’d be a popular candidate.

All eyes on Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The big decision is made, now for an even bigger decision.

Though was it Big Sir Jim’s call?

Should Ten Hag have been sacked despite this famous victory? Hindsight suggests it absolutely should have done.

At Wembley that day:

Asked if he thinks he’s been treated unfairly by the media, Ten Hag said to Gary Lineker: “I think so, the team as well. It was not right.”

Alan Shearer interjected to say that United have rarely been as good as they were today and often deserved whatever criticism came their way. “You are right but we didn’t have the players,” came the riposte. “It was not always good football, definitely not, but if you don’t have the players you can’t play the football you want to play.”

Was it his last game in charge of United? “I don’t know,” he said. “The only thing I am doing is training my team, preparing my team, developing my team because this is for me a project. When I came in, I can say it was a mess and we are now better but we are by far not where we want to be.”

The United brains trust kept him on, and spent even more money. A fateful decision.

Complaints made in vain after that defeat at West Ham. It probably wasn’t a penalty but then again, Ten Hag was not much of a Manchester United manager.

It seems quite a while already since the “bald is best” campaign.

Will Unwin has the story so far.

Here’s that official club statement: short but sweet. Seen shorter.

Erik ten Hag has left his role as Manchester United men’s first-team manager.

Erik was appointed in April 2022 and led the club to two domestic trophies, winning the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024.

We are grateful to Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him well for the future.

Ruud van Nistelrooy will take charge of the team as interim head coach, supported by the current coaching team, whilst a permanent head coach is recruited.

Preamble