After a miserable season, where Manchester United broke every conceivable record for all the wrong reasons, David Moyes was sacked by the club on Tuesday.
Widespread reports in England on Monday claimed Moyes was to be fired by United soon, and the club pre-empted any more rumours by putting out a small statement confirming the former Everton manager's departure.
"Manchester United has announced that David Moyes has left the club," the English Premier League champions said in a statement on their official website.
"The club would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role."
Moyes was specially chosen by Sir Alex Ferguson as his successor to the Manchester United throne, but after giving the fellow Scot a six-year contract last summer, everything went wrong.
United are enduring a thoroughly forgettable campaign in the Premier League, and currently lie seventh, with no hopes of qualifying for the Champions League next season. There was to be no major cup run either, with the Red Devils knocked out of the FA Cup early, while Sunderland sent them packing in the Capital One Cup semifinal.
Moyes' stay as United manager was extended to a large extent thanks to a decent 1-1 first leg Champions League quarterfinal draw with holders Bayern Munich, but the loss to Merseyside teams Liverpool and Everton, the latter coming on Sunday, was too scathing to overlook.
While Moyes claimed he needed time to mould his team, what could not be ironed out was the fact that under the new manager, United played some of the most unimpressive and uninspiring football seen at Old Trafford for many a year.
And that, at the end of the day, is something, no matter how bad the results were, Moyes could not overcome.
"What the league table shows now is something that neither the club nor the fans deserve," club record signing Juan Mata wrote in his blog, giving a taster of the mood in the United camp after an as-bad-as-it-gets 2-0 defeat to Everton, the club that Moyes managed for 11 years and left last summer to take up the "dream" job.
"We will keep fighting until the end, that's the least we can do because I honestly think that we owe many good results to our supporters this season, mainly at Old Trafford. To get as many points as possible and finish as high as we can on the table is, unfortunately, the only goal ahead for us.
"I hope the next game comes as soon as possible because, as you can imagine, this bad taste makes me mad. I thank you for all your messages of support in the good moments and, especially, in the bad ones. Without you everything would be more complicated."
Ryan Giggs will take over as manager until the end of the season, before United look for a long-term replacement. The likes of Jurgen Klopp, Loius Van Gaal, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Martinez, Diego Simeone and Laurent Blanc have all been linked.
