Sir Alex Ferguson once used the now-infamous words "Lads, it's Tottenham" to motivate his Manchester United players against their often inferior opponents. On Wednesday, he watched his since-fallen club suffer a historically bad fourth defeat of the season to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final.
The consequences? United will go down in the history books as the club that handed Spurs their first major trophy since 2008, in a European final, no less. On top of that humiliation, there will be no European football whatsoever at Old Trafford next season after missing out on a back-door entry into the Champions League.
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Sir Alex was in attendance at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, perched in the directors' box alongside United owners Avram Glazer and Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
After the final whistle, someone in the stands filmed him pulling a face that perfectly illustrated how millions of United supporters felt while accepting the reality of the 1-0 defeat.
The legendary Scotsman looked as if he was about to projectile vomit over the red stands of Athletic Club's home while the teams collected their medals.
Sir Alex lost his fair share of finals as United manager, but none of those defeats left the club with as little as the bottle job in Bilbao.
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The Red Devils' sixth attempt to replace Sir Alex couldn't have gotten off to a worse start, but Ruben Amorim reportedly retains the club's backing ahead of a crucial summer.
Amorim could do with Sir Alex's advice when it comes to losing finals if he is to achieve even a sliver of the 83-year-old's success.
During a Q&A session with United youth players earlier this year, Sir Alex said: "I lost nine finals at Aberdeen and Manchester United. Nine finals.
"And you know what it does? The next morning, I was a better manager. You have to handle defeat in the correct way.
"To be a winner, you have to accept that defeat is part of your life, but you can correct that the very next day.
"So all the young players, handle defeat the right way and make sure you're a winner the next day. I did that, and I won 32 finals."
Amorim is expected to oversee a ruthless overhaul of the squad he inherited from Erik ten Hag this summer.
He will know a repeat of his first season at the helm won't be acceptable after the Europa League final defeat set United back further.