In the quieter moments of his evening contemplation, Rafa Benitez might just have wondered if any of it was really worth the hassle?
After another long, uninspiring day at the office - such as after a loss at Norwich or Brentford, Brighton or, most pointedly of all, a 4-1 shellacking to Liverpool at Goodison Park - Benitez, when the front door closed on his home on the Wirral, would have been forgiven for pondering.
The soul-searching will have centred around whether floundering in the nether regions of the Premier League as Everton manager, with virtually an entire fanbase against him, was really worth risking his Liverpool legacy for.
This, after all, was the manager who was a living legend to all at Anfield just six short months ago; the mastermind behind arguably the greatest single night in their history on May 25, 2005.
Benitez helped re-establish Liverpool as a genuine force in European football with two Champions League final appearances in 2005 and '07 followed by a semi-final run in 2008.
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Even at the lowest ebb of his six years, in 2010, the Spaniard was still able to guide his Reds side to the semi-finals of the Europa League and he left that summer as bona-fide icon, despite the need to freshen things up at Anfield.
So the decision for him to move to arch-rivals Everton last summer was met with a genuinely divided fanbase on the red side of Stanley Park.
Some felt his legend was safe and secure and wished Benitez well in his new, shock venture.
Others took a more dim view, arguing that any true great would not even countenance the idea of managing at Goodison Park, let alone actually go through with it.
Given his very obvious Liverpool connections, Benitez would always be given less margin for error in a royal blue tie from a weary and skeptical set of supporters.
But one win in 13 Premier League games is a disastrous run for any manager, let alone one who was unable to call upon a deep well of goodwill and patience from supporters.
His sacking should come as no surprise, but what should is the fact that Benitez thought any of this might end differently.
The Spaniard made his name with Valencia and then Liverpool as one the shrewdest tacticians in European football in the early years of 21st century; a coach who was able to outwit opposite his number in the biggest games.
Well over 15 years on from the halcyon days that accompanied the 'miracle of Istanbul' however, Benitez appears to have retained none of what made him a special coach, while also being guilty of the same flaws that have undercut him throughout much of the last decade.
Confrontational, combative and stubborn, that he was able to see off Everton's head of medical services Danny Donachie, director of football Marcel Brands, head of recruitment Gretar Steinsson and manager of scouting Dan Purdy spoke to the surprise power he was able to wield in such a short period of time.
It also indicated that owner Farhad Moshiri, after seemingly installing a revolving door on the manager's office at Finch Farm six years ago, was finally prepared to invest time and space in Benitez for him to do the job.
That the manager was sacked in the same week that the PR war with left-back Lucas Digne came to an end via his sale to Aston Villa revealed it all about the lack of clarity in the decision-making process at the highest level.
Those who have dealt with Benitez on Merseyside during both tenures at Everton and Liverpool speak of a man of humility, respect and decency.
Benitez is - or was - always generous with his time and willing to answer questions from journalists on all topics.
There was the time he was forced to quietly discuss transfer targets over the phone while on holiday for fear of angering his sleeping wife, Montse, who had been promised a break from the day-to-day stresses that accompany her husband's high-profile occupation.
Then there is the £96,000 donation to the Hillsborough Family Support Group in 2010 - a gesture that was commended from fans from all areas of the city and beyond, regardless of what colour scarf they wore.
So hearing of the in-house battles he was willing to fight after just a few months in the job summed up just how far removed 'Benitez the football manager' is to the man himself.
To paraphrase Phil Dunphy on American sit-com Modern Family: "For such a generally lovely man, he sure did have a lot of enemies."
All this, however, means little to those on the other side of Stanley Park.
They will concern themselves only with how Benitez will now be viewed going forward.
The singing of his name on the Kop when the news was made public at half time of Sunday's 3-0 win over Brentford is inconclusive in the same way it was when Reds supporters cooed about their ex-manager in the aforementioned 4-1 win in December.
Was it a song sung with tongues firmly in cheeks as supporters indulged themselves further in the Everton misery? Or was it a nod that all is now forgiven, despite the defection?
In a way, one thing that might keep Benitez in the good graces is the fact of how poorly he performed at Everton.
In the years to come, the hope for some will be that this aberration, the doomed dalliance with the most fierce of local rivals, can simply be forgotten based on how brief the flirtation was.
That, though, is far from a given and there are some who will never forgive or forget, regardless of how shambolic this perverse, yet mercifully short-lived experiment was.
So was it all really worth it, Rafa? The answer, emphatically, simply has to be no.
