The die is cast, Frank Lampard is gone, now the smear campaign begins.
It was only this afternoon that the sacking was confirmed, and already the Telegraph is carrying all sorts of details about sordid goings on behind the scenes. To what extent you believe the precise details is up to you.
The most shocking are perhaps the reports of dressing room clashes between club captain Cesar Azpilicueta and Antonio Rudiger.
After being excluded from the matchday squad on a few occasions earlier this season, the German defender apparently fell out with Azpilicueta as the Spaniard try to bring the dressing room back together.
Other players who the manager wanted out in the summer – including Marcos Alonso, also apparently contributed to the discord behind the scenes.
The pandemic lowered the potential fee for a lot of these spare parts, they ended up sticking around to kick up a stink, and now the rest is history.