Has the FA Cup saved Erik ten Hag just as legend tell us it once saved Sir Alex Ferguson? No, not really.
The truth is that Manchester United looked across the football landscape and couldn't find an upgrade. So Ten Hag stays. Bruised and a little embarrassed perhaps. Most certainly undermined and now certain of the shaky ground on which he stands. But alive and in work and ready, no doubt, to try to prove everybody - and indeed the Premier League table - wrong.
To be clear, Manchester United and Sir Jim Ratcliffe's circle of advisors who now run it were perfectly entitled to do the things they have done.