Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa career ended in the most brutal of fashions.
Just 20 minutes after trudging from the pitch at Craven Cottage with chants of 'Steven Gerrard, get out of our club' ringing in his ears, the axe fell on his time at Villa Park.
Minutes after he was telling reporters that he would fight on after a sickening 3-0 defeat to Fulham on Thursday night, that fight would be over as Villa CEO Christian Purslow - who remained a huge fan of Gerrard from his time at Liverpool - informed him of his fate.
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Gerrard would be allowed to travel back to Villa's training ground Bodymoor Heath to say his goodbyes, at least. Small mercies.
But now that the booing has stopped, Gerrard will find that the laughter soon begins.
Indeed, the 42-year-old won't find much in the way of support outside of Anfield and Ibrox as he looks to pick himself up from his first major managerial setback.
Instead he is likely to deal with the taunting of fans revelling in his failure to find success.
That, after all, is the nature of being a celebrated one-club man throughout his Premier League career.
So beloved by Liverpool fans, those who Gerrard played against - and often hurt along the way - grew to hate him.
A cocktail of envy and bitterness at seeing a superhuman Gerrard so often drag Liverpool across the line, often at their expense, ensured that the Huyton-born midfielder wouldn't win any popularity contests elsewhere.
Even now, fans who could only dream of their teams challenging for the Premier League title chant about Gerrard's infamous slip in 2014 on a regular basis.
And Villa know that better than anyone. Gerrard scored 13 goals against the Villans during his playing career, more than any other side.
It's why the laughter that will accompany Gerrard's failure at Villa Park shouldn't mask the truth about his decision to take the job there.
Gerrard took a braver step than many of his ex-team-mates when deciding to move into management. After all, he could have dined out on his playing career for as long as he wished.
Jamie Carragher, so often regarded as one of the game's deep thinkers, decided it wasn't for him and Gerrard could also look at Roy Keane, a player he no doubt looked up to, as an example of how success on the pitch doesn't necesasarily translate to the dugout. The less said about Gary Neville's ill-fated jaunt into management, the better.
Braver still, was Gerrard's choice to leave Rangers, a club where he'd enjoyed wild success, so early into last season to take on the Villa job.
Villa are a big name club with ambitions to return to their former glory. But that is true of so many others in the Premier League and the expectation leaves little time for patience and success always hard to measure. Don't forget, Villa only gained promotion in May 2019.
Added to which, Dean Smith was popular among the locals before he lost his job and Gerrard was always going to face an uphill task developing a rapport with a support of which many didn't agree with the decision to part ways with their former manager.
And as Birmingham Live reported, it was not as much about results or style of play that Gerrard was fighting a losing battle at Villa, it was his failure to build any sort of connection with the fanbase.
Any big decision Gerrard made was scrutinised. Another brave call was to drop popular defender Tyrone Mings. While stripping him of the captaincy was as bold as it was risky.
Gerrard could also point to a run of ill luck with new signings, as Diego Carlos, the centre-back signed for £27m from Sevilla and whose job it was to replace Mings in the side, went down with an Achilles injury after making just two Premier League appearances.
Others such as Lucas Digne and Boubacar Kamara were also sidelined as Gerrard's reign unravelled.
What was left was a sorry situation and one that led to the inevitable sacking of a man who was largely unwanted in the first place.
And it makes Gerrard's next move fascinating and crucial to the continuation of his managerial career.
Returning to Rangers or Liverpool in any sort of role would be the safe choices.
But does that really sound like the Gerrard we know so well?
A job in the Championship would give him more experience and a chance to rebuild his reputation. While a move away from British football would almost certainly broaden his horizons.
Whatever happens, Gerrard won't let this setback derail his management ambitions. He'll learn from it and he will go again.
Liverpool fans who watched Gerrard throughout his playing career know it better than anyone.
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