Boxing Day last year and Louis van Gaal sat in Mark Hughes's office at Stoke City wearing the look of a beaten man.
His Manchester United team had just lost 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium. It was their fourth defeat on the bounce and they had not won for seven matches.
Those present in the room that evening were astonished at what they saw.
'The Stoke staff actually felt a bit sorry for him,' a well-placed source told Sportsmail.