It was the closest an FA Cup-winning manager has ever come to dropping the microphone.
Speaking to a room full of reporters who had been reporting on plans for a managerial change for the past few days, a hurt, embattled but combative Erik ten Hag defended his record as Manchester United manager.
“Two trophies in two years isn't bad,” he said. “Three finals in two years isn't bad either. If they don't want me, I'll go somewhere else to win trophies, because that's my job.”
It was a good phrase worth repeating, and he did. After Ten Hag's contract extension and future was sealed, he spoke to MUTV in July and reiterated the “two trophies” point.
And a few days later, after United's first pre-season friendly in Trondheim, he said it again, adding: “More than any other club in English football apart from (Manchester) City.”
He repeated it after the friendly against Rangers in Edinburgh.
Then another US tour.
That was in pre-season. Since the start of the season, ten Hag has mentioned his two domestic cup triumphs in six interactions with journalists at pre- and post-match press conferences, not to mention broadcast interviews.
The most recent example came during a tense exchange with a reporter after Sunday's 3-0 loss to Liverpool, when he asked him to name “mistakes” his team had allegedly made. After the reporter rattled off a laundry list of repeated errors, ten Hag retreated to his old faithful.
“I have a different vision. I think we have won the most trophies in English football after City,” he said. “It's a shame.”
He's right, of course – as he was at Wembley, and as he is now – but three games into the new season, his masterful attack on his critics back in May is quickly becoming the go-to argument.
Ten Hag just reiterated his favourite point on Friday, adding that “the only thing that matters in football is whether you win awards and trophies at the end of the season” – but as others have pointed out, this view stands in stark contrast to that of his predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“You can win a trophy in any cup competition but for other managers and clubs sometimes it's more about ego at the end of the day to win something,” Solskjaer said in March 2021.
“Trophies don't say 'we're back'. It's the incremental progress – staying at the top of the league, consistency and winning the occasional trophy – that's important. Cup competitions can sometimes hide the fact that we're still struggling a bit.”
Solskjaer's words come from a manager with the opposite problems to ten Hag's – United have steadily improved in the league under the Norwegian, from sixth to third to second, but the trophy cabinet is empty.
Solskjaer has defended his record by arguing that league games are the true barometer of progress, while ten Hag has defended his record on the basis of winning trophies. Opinion is divided as to which side is right.
It was crucial that Solskjaer's side qualified for the Champions League on the final weekend of the 2019-20 season, but do you remember who United beat that day? And what was the score? You may remember, but a 2-0 win behind closed doors at Leicester City is not a result that will go down in history for the ages.
Likewise, finishing runners-up in the league doesn't create memories: Solskjaer's side have not been able to top the table since late January and finished second in 2021, 12 points behind holders Manchester City, that year.
The only trophy United came close to winning that year was the Europa League, and before the final in Gdansk Solskjaer argued that trophies can “hide other facts”, but after United lost on penalties to Villarreal, the manager admitted that a trophy-free season could not be considered a success.
Ask anyone with a long-standing knowledge of the inner workings of Old Trafford and they'll tell you that you can't survive as a United manager unless you win trophies. Solskjaer's time in charge is perhaps proof of that, while Ten Hag's proves the opposite: you can survive even your worst run of results in Premier League history if you win trophies and orchestrate United's best days since Sir Alex Ferguson.
Then, of course, there was the 4-3 quarter-final win over Liverpool – one of the best games and atmospheres at Old Trafford this century – and then there's the Carabao Cup victory, and the past two years have given supporters unforgettable memories and more joy than made up for the lack of progress.
But Solskjaer's view is much closer to how performances are dispassionately assessed at the elite level of modern football: the 38-match league campaign, home and away, is arguably a more accurate gauge of a team's strength and also a gateway to expensive Champions League qualification, which impacts budgets in ways the FA Cup doesn't usually.
As Ten Hag points out, United may be the second-most successful team in English football over the past two years, but no one would seriously argue they were the second-best.
Nor would anyone argue that United are any closer to challenging City for a major honour than Arsenal, despite the fact that manager Mikel Arteta has only added the Community Shield to his list of honours since ten Hag took over.
That is the reality. In quiet moments, away from the hostile atmosphere of press conferences and the intensity of the battles, even Ten Hag would agree that trophies alone are not enough. You need both the pots and the points.
United's decade-plus drought will only end when the club is regularly competing for the Premier League title and once again reaching the latter stages of the Champions League.
There were mitigating factors last season – injuries, off-pitch turmoil, uncertainty over acquisitions and the absence of an established left-back – but United performed below par in the most important competitions.
That is why, despite the domestic cup success, the manager is under pressure to prove he has progressed and can still progress, and there is only so much time left to show off two trophies. Even Ten Hag would embrace that when he is not surrounded by reporters and TV cameras.
Going deeper
Analysis of Ashworth and Velada's Manchester United transfer briefing – 'Eric has our full support'
(Top photo: Erik ten Hag holding the FA Cup, Photo by Alex Pantling via Getty Images)