If Sir Alex Ferguson needed any reminding of the fickle nature of football supporters, he would have got it by tuning into MUTV immediate after Manchester United's stunning FA Cup demise yesterday.
Ferguson is a man who has delivered 11 league titles - and is currently aiming for a record fourth on the trot - five FA Cups and two Champions League triumphs in a period of unparalleled dominance.
This, lest anyone needed to know, followed a fallow period that brought three FA Cups in 16 years that also included the ignominy of relegation to the old Second Division.
It has, quite rightly, made Ferguson bulletproof in managerial terms. The thought of United willingly getting rid of the 68-year-old to make way for Jose Mourinho, or anyone else for that matter, is impossible to conceive.
Yet the first caller on the MUTV post-match phone-in wanted exactly that, along with the sales of a dozen players deemed not worthy of United's famous history, a history Ferguson has done so much to shape.
Now, it was easy to imagine this reaction as being some elaborate hoax, that the caller was sat in front of his armchair wearing a blue and white Manchester City scarf eagerly making mischief ahead of Wednesday's Carling Cup semi-final first-leg.
Yet it also emphasised just how difficult Ferguson's job is in rapidly changing times across the whole football landscape.
"I don't know where he was coming from or how long he had been waiting to make the call but if he truly believes getting rid of the best manager Manchester United have had would help improve the situation, he is living in a different world to me," said Lou Macari, a pundit on the phone-in.
"The problem, and this is football's problem, not just Manchester United, is that the players are just not there anymore.
"In the past, United had guys like Steve Bruce, Roy Keane, Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes, who would literally go to war in order to win a football match. I don't see many of those characters around now.
"People talk about Wayne Rooney, and quite rightly so, but he sticks out like a sore thumb. The other guys did not stick out like a sore thumb. They regarded it as part of their job."
Ironically, one of the more combative members of the United squad is Nemanja Vidic, whose future has been the subject of so much speculation recently, even though he has publicly stated his willingness to sign a new Red Devils contract.
Given he withdrew from yesterday's game after the warm-up and Ferguson, who will face no FA action despite labelling the five minutes added on by referee Chris Foy at Old Trafford "an insult", appeared at a loss to explain why, it was hardly a surprise Vidic should find himself in the middle of a number of conspiracy theories.
Yet the word out of the United camp is that the Serbian tweaked a nerve, hence his absence from the Red Devils defence yesterday and, possibly, Wednesday's Carling Cup semi-final first-leg with Manchester City, which could either atone for Ferguson's first FA Cup third round exit, or make matters a whole lot worse should the Blues prevail in the quest to end nearly 34 years without a major honour.
The likes of Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Giggs and Scholes will provide a more solid backbone to Ferguson's midfield, while Edwin van der Sar's return after his wife mercifully recovered from her pre-Christmas health scare cannot come soon enough either after another shaky performance from Tomasz Kuszczak, who only played because Ben Foster pulled out with a flu virus.
At least the presence of Scholes and Giggs would mean a couple of the players Macari does feel have earned their impressive reputations will be on the pitch.
"Football is so big these days players get built up to be something they are not," he said.
"They are told how good they are, when actually they have achieved very little.
"At Manchester United, there are three players who, for as long as they live, will be able to turn round, say they gave everything and put their medals on the table to show how good they were.
"But how many Ryan Giggs' are there, or Paul Scholes', or Gary Neville's?
"I see a lot of football, and I like to think I can spot a player. But I could watch matches for two years and still might come up with anyone who is truly world class, other than the small handful we all know about."
This, lest anyone needed to know, followed a fallow period that brought three FA Cups in 16 years that also included the ignominy of relegation to the old Second Division.
It has, quite rightly, made Ferguson bulletproof in managerial terms. The thought of United willingly getting rid of the 68-year-old to make way for Jose Mourinho, or anyone else for that matter, is impossible to conceive.
Yet the first caller on the MUTV post-match phone-in wanted exactly that, along with the sales of a dozen players deemed not worthy of United's famous history, a history Ferguson has done so much to shape.
Now, it was easy to imagine this reaction as being some elaborate hoax, that the caller was sat in front of his armchair wearing a blue and white Manchester City scarf eagerly making mischief ahead of Wednesday's Carling Cup semi-final first-leg.
Yet it also emphasised just how difficult Ferguson's job is in rapidly changing times across the whole football landscape.
"I don't know where he was coming from or how long he had been waiting to make the call but if he truly believes getting rid of the best manager Manchester United have had would help improve the situation, he is living in a different world to me," said Lou Macari, a pundit on the phone-in.
"The problem, and this is football's problem, not just Manchester United, is that the players are just not there anymore.
"In the past, United had guys like Steve Bruce, Roy Keane, Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes, who would literally go to war in order to win a football match. I don't see many of those characters around now.
"People talk about Wayne Rooney, and quite rightly so, but he sticks out like a sore thumb. The other guys did not stick out like a sore thumb. They regarded it as part of their job."
Ironically, one of the more combative members of the United squad is Nemanja Vidic, whose future has been the subject of so much speculation recently, even though he has publicly stated his willingness to sign a new Red Devils contract.
Given he withdrew from yesterday's game after the warm-up and Ferguson, who will face no FA action despite labelling the five minutes added on by referee Chris Foy at Old Trafford "an insult", appeared at a loss to explain why, it was hardly a surprise Vidic should find himself in the middle of a number of conspiracy theories.
Yet the word out of the United camp is that the Serbian tweaked a nerve, hence his absence from the Red Devils defence yesterday and, possibly, Wednesday's Carling Cup semi-final first-leg with Manchester City, which could either atone for Ferguson's first FA Cup third round exit, or make matters a whole lot worse should the Blues prevail in the quest to end nearly 34 years without a major honour.
The likes of Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Giggs and Scholes will provide a more solid backbone to Ferguson's midfield, while Edwin van der Sar's return after his wife mercifully recovered from her pre-Christmas health scare cannot come soon enough either after another shaky performance from Tomasz Kuszczak, who only played because Ben Foster pulled out with a flu virus.
At least the presence of Scholes and Giggs would mean a couple of the players Macari does feel have earned their impressive reputations will be on the pitch.
"Football is so big these days players get built up to be something they are not," he said.
"They are told how good they are, when actually they have achieved very little.
"At Manchester United, there are three players who, for as long as they live, will be able to turn round, say they gave everything and put their medals on the table to show how good they were.
"But how many Ryan Giggs' are there, or Paul Scholes', or Gary Neville's?
"I see a lot of football, and I like to think I can spot a player. But I could watch matches for two years and still might come up with anyone who is truly world class, other than the small handful we all know about."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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