Jose Mourinho turned up to his meeting with Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward on Tuesday morning to discuss January transfer targets, only to be sacked.
The Sunday Times are reporting that the Portuguese manager had no idea that he was about to lose his job, despite the recent run of disastrous results in the Premier League.
Mourinho was hoping to be given assurances that funds would be available for him in January during the meeting, but things turned out very differently. While he was apparently aware that his position beyond the current campaign was by no means certain, he had been expected to be given more time to turn the season around.
While it was seemingly clear that the team needed a change in direction, many were still surprised about the decision to sack the former-Chelsea boss. Manchester United have been slow to get rid of managers in the post-Fergie era, with both David Moyes and Louis van Gaal perhaps given too much time at the club when things were clearly going awry.
There was also the matter of Mourinho's compensation package, which would have been cut by 25% had the club been out of Champions League contention at the time of his contract being terminated. The Glazer family ultimately paid around £24million to get him out the door.
The uninspiring loss to Liverpool last weekend was seen as the final straw, with the team's lacklustre performance, the failure of Paul Pogba to see a single minute of action, and Mourinho's post-match demeanour all taken into consideration.
On United's behalf, the move seems to have worked thus far. Ole Gunner Solskjaer has already lifted the mood at the club, as demonstrated by an excellent performance against Cardiff yesterday. That game marked the first time since Alex Ferguson's departure that United had scored five goals in a match.
Bizarrely, it was also the first game this season in which Manchester United covered more distance than their opponents, a demonstration of the lack both of intensity and hard work under the previous regime.
Whether this turn in fortunes is sustainable remains to be seen, but at least the club's supporters actually seem enthused about watching their team once again.
