Erik ten Hag was in the stands at Selhurst Park to watch United lose to Crystal Palace

Maybe that beach in the Caribbean would have been a better option after all. Erik ten Hag turned down a post-season tour to Curacao with Ajax and instead opted to begin work with Manchester United and on this evidence he might not get a day off all summer.

The 52-year-old breezed into Selhurst Park in the hour before kick-off, dressed for summer in a cream jacket and a beaming smile, one that would be wiped off his face by events on the pitch.

Defeat to Crystal Palace was a 12th in the Premier League this season and this has been a truly wretched campaign. It’s hard to believe that in September a title challenge looked realistic.

Instead, this team’s woeful fall from those heights meant the excellent away dayers had to contend with celebrating Manchester City’s title-clinching third goal, while their own players huffed and puffed without ever looking like scoring.

United might have been one of eight teams with something to play for on the final day but whether they finished sixth or seventh and qualified for the Europa League or the Conference League was almost an irrelevance, given the standard of their ambitions.

They remain one of the biggest stories in town, however, and from just after 2 pm a camera crew was stationed outside Selhurst Park’s main entrance waiting for the arrival of Ten Hag.

When the 52-year-old did arrive shortly after 3.15 pm he managed to escape most of the attention. United used a little subterfuge to suggest he would be coming from one direction, when in the end he was shepherded through with security from another, accompanied by football director John Murtough, assistant Mitchell van der Gaag, and Steve McClaren, whose return to United is imminent.