Ten Hag is not safe but Cup win will resonate for decades

A victory for the ages over Liverpool may not preserve United manager's job, yet it does ensure lasting goodwill

- Jonathan Wilson

And in the next round, Mark Robins. Football has found itself assailed in recent years by states, oligarchs and private equity, the concentration of resources at a handful of clubs in a tiny number of western European countries destroying the balance that once sustained it, the potential of its soft power meaning that it has been preyed upon by regimes desperate to launder their image and secure influence. But, despite all that, the sport has retained its mischievous sense of humour.

It was Robins who scored the winner for Manchester United against Nottingham Forest in 1990 that saved Sir Alex Ferguson's job, carrying them through the third round of the FA Cup to initiate an exhaustingly dramatic campaign that culminated in the trophy. At the end of his fourth season in the job, that was Ferguson's first silverware at Old Trafford, the herald of 23 years of almost constant success.

Robins has a fine record as a lower-league manager. If Coventry win their game in hand in the Championship, they will be one point off the promotion playoffs and, on Saturday, they scored twice in injury time to beat Wolves in their own astonishing quarter-final.

Robins has only faced United once before as a manager, in 2009-10 in the League Cup when his Barnsley lost 2-0. But on occasion, football has an impeccable sense of timing: of course he should pop up again now, just as everybody is talking about Erik ten Hag having enjoyed his Robins moment.