Bruno Fernandes, the captain of the team, said goodbye on Instagram.

“Thanks for everything, boss! I value the trust and the moments we shared and wish you all the best for the future. Even though we all know the last half wasn't great, I hope you fans can remember the good things the coach has done for our club!”

Odds for the next manager, via Oddschecker:

• Ruud van Nistelrooy 7/2

• Reuben 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

Gary Neville's viewpoint is here via Sky Sports:

The big shock for me is how bad they have been with the new signings. I felt that after a smoother transfer window they would have enough to reach a decent level of performance together and that Erik ten Hag would get some degree of stability.

The fact that they are in 14th place is unacceptable. With the level of spending that has been made, you can't be in 14th place after nine or ten games without being under significant pressure – and that's exactly what happened. I was hoping it would end differently. I think Manchester United fans were hoping that the manager would keep his job and that the trust shown in him in the summer would pay off. But that wasn't the case.

Some data from Ten Hag via PA Media:

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

• However, the Dutchman lost 27.3 percent of his games, ahead only of David Moyes (29.4 percent) and a spell as Ralf Rangnick's interim coach (27.6), while his team struggled to convert defeats into draws – just 23 games, i.e. 18 percent, ended up completely square.

• Ten Hag's team conceded 165 goals during his tenure, with their average of 1.29 per game even exceeding the figure in a losing half-season under Rangnick (37 in 29 games, 1.28 per game).

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

• Under Ten Hag they have conceded four or more goals in a game seven times, losing 6-3 and 7-0 to arch-rivals Manchester City and Liverpool respectively in his first season, while they conceded three or more more often in his second season conceded (15) as they kept a clean sheet (13).

• Ten Hag becomes only the second manager after Ferguson to have multiple trophies to his name, adding last season's FA Cup to the 2022-23 Carabao Cup.

Karen Asad contacts: “Last season’s FA Cup victory, as fond as the memory was, masked the obvious shortcomings of the ETH team. This season he had the players and no difference; Because serious teams don't run away from such excuses.

“Many questionable transfer decisions will be left to United to weigh up the costs for the foreseeable future. I think ETH wasn't ambitious enough. He has invested more than anyone else, but acts as if his job is to help a medium-sized club win the cup. We assumed he would be in the same league as Pep & Klopp, but he really wasn't.”

Here is Ruud himself:

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

“Finishing third by 14 points and a trophy in his first season was a pretty impressive achievement. This largely happened with a squad he inherited. The more of his dream players came along, the more incomprehensible the tactics became.

“What's also strange is that the general cohesion of the team seems to be fine. None of the bad body language/locker room leaks we've seen in other managers' finals. How did he seemingly manage to maintain this unity while completely ruining the team’s fortunes?”

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

OK, here's the first runner and rider removed from the list.

I'm not sure he would be a popular candidate.

All eyes are on Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The big decision has been made, now there is an even bigger decision to be made.

But was it Big Sir Jim's call?

Ten Hag should have been fired despite this famous victory? In hindsight it can be said that this absolutely should have been the case.

On this day at Wembley Stadium:

Asked if he felt he had been treated unfairly by the media, Ten Hag told Gary Lineker: “I think so, the team too. It wasn't right.”

Alan Shearer weighed in and said United were rarely as good as they were today and often deserved every bit of criticism. “You’re right, but we lacked players,” came the reply. “It wasn’t 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 as United manager? “I don’t know,” he said. “The only thing I do is train my team, prepare my team and develop my team because that is a project for me. When I came in I can say it was a mess and we are better now, but we are nowhere near where we want to be.”

The United Brains Trust kept him in office and spent even more money. A fateful decision.

After the defeat at West Ham, the complaints were in vain. It probably wasn't a penalty, but then again Ten Hag wasn't a great Manchester United manager either.

It seems like it's been a while since the “Bald is Best” campaign took place.

Will Unwin has the story so far.

Here is the official club statement: short but sweet. Seen shorter.

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

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 thank Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him all the best for the future.

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

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