Even Roy Keane seemed to have given up the ghost, as he struggled to find the energy for his usual coruscating deconstruction of the embarrassment Manchester United have become.
'Sad' was the only word he could summon, halfway through Liverpool's annihilation of his old club on Tuesday night.
As always, Keane named the family whose annexation of the club has brought on this decline as 'the Glaziers' — a slander on those practical, creative people who work hard fitting glass for a living.
His uncharacteristically loose grasp on the detail sums up the fundamental difference between United and Liverpool fans when it has come to forcing American carpet-baggers out the door.