It was the morning after Manchester United had won the 2016 FA Cup and, not for the first time, Louis van Gaal was preparing to make a speech at a team meal.



At least one person settling in for breakfast at the Corinthia Hotel near Embankment had little faith that the 10am start would see a full attendance of players and staff members, given the partying had gone on until dawn and rumours were swirling that Jose Mourinho had already agreed a deal to take over.



“People had been out enjoying themselves the night before and I remember thinking, ‘No way will everyone show up,’” says a source. “But not a single person failed to show.”



Whether that was because Van Gaal’s doctrine for regimented eating times had become force of habit over the previous two years, or whether it was down to everybody thinking this manager — whatever his failings — deserved respect at the end of his reign, nobody can say for sure.