Future starts now for Moyes

Out of the Champions League, out of the title race, out of the battle for the top four, the FA Cup and Carling Cup both a distant memory; Manchester United’s miserable season is now complete and their 2014-15 campaign will begin almost immediately — in the boardroom rather than on the pitch.

There is no disgrace in going out of Europe in the quarter-finals in Munich, even for a club of United’s stature, and having gone ahead in the Allianz Arena — and having battled well in the first leg at Old Trafford — there were moments in this tie to provide some hope for the future.

But nevertheless it will be an unaccustomed and uncomfortable feeling today as the English champions consider the prospect of more than a month remaining in the season but nothing to play for.