Manchester United are now out of the Champions League, and into the glamour of the Europa League, after they lost 3-2 to Wolfsburg last night.
In truth, it was not last night that sent United out of the tournament, but the last decade. The arrival of the Glazers meant that funding was cut under Alex Ferguson, and Ferguson's genius masked the rot.
Under David Moyes, it became obvious just how much work and investment was needed, and United finished seventh, which meant that Louis van Gaal had an easy ride in his first season.
There was conservatism and there were weird choices, but it was enough to scrape qualification for the Champions League, and so Van Gaal got another chance, and another round of investment. But it didn't really improve much at all. Games were drawn, the approach was sterile, and fun was punished. Injuries continued to hamper the squad as they have for much of the last five years, another failure of Van Gaal to not improve fitness.
It is clear that Van Gaal needs to go, but when?