Wayne Rooney sparked a World Cup scare when he walked out of Manchester United's season 13 minutes from time at Old Trafford.
Hindered by groin and ankle problems over the final month of the campaign and with hopes of landing either the Premier League title or the Golden Boot wrecked by Chelsea's avalanche of goals at Stamford Bridge, Rooney signalled to the bench he could not continue as his side strolled to victory against Stoke.
It looked like a recurrence of his groin problem, and Fabio Capello can only hope Rooney took a sensible precaution by coming off in a dead match rather than risk further damage.
Certainly it was a disappointing way for Rooney to end his domestic commitments.
Indeed, rarely can a four-goal win, achieved through Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs, a Danny Higginbotham own goal and Park Ji-sung, been greeted in such a downbeat manner.
There was plenty of noise at the end, although that was mainly due to the number of whistles being blown in protest at the Glazer family's continued ownership.
United strode out at Old Trafford hoping for a miracle, whilst being realistic enough to understand dreams of this magnitude simply do not come true.
By the time Giggs had turned home his 155th Red Devils goal, the title had been lost.
Where it all went wrong is not easy to pinpoint. Losing seven games is normally an insurmountable handicap but in a switchback season such as this one, it was not necessarily so.
The defeats to Chelsea did leave United with a problem, especially the second one, which, as it was followed immediately by a draw at Blackburn, proved pretty terminal.
Defensive injuries before Christmas undoubtedly played a major part too.
Certainly, 48 points from a possible 60 after Santa Claus squeezed down the chimney was not a bad effort and leaves Ferguson to express optimism that United will be a major force next season.
Indeed, as four titles on the trot had never been done before, the Red Devils deserve some credit for taking their challenge right down to the last day, even if it looks like a chance missed.
They had no intention of letting the little inconvenience of missing out on the major prize affect their victory charge.
From the first whistle, Ferguson's team played with purpose and intent.
Nani in particular, a revelation in the second-half of the season, took the fight straight to Stoke, who never got on the ball long enough to force itself on its opponents, as it likes to do.
Dimitar Berbatov's future continues to be debated and the Bulgarian seemed keen to round off with a goal.
Andy Wilkinson blocked a goalbound effort from the Bulgarian, who then headed a Nani left-wing cross over before the Portugal winger curled over a brilliant effort from the right which Berbatov thundered against the bar.
Rooney was not getting many opportunities himself and on the one occasion he was offered a sight of goal before half-time, Robert Huth stuck out a long leg to deny him.
By that point, United had broken its deadlock.
Fletcher has further enhanced his reputation this season, earning a well-deserved place in the PFA Premier League team of the year.
The one aspect he could do with improving is his goalscoring.
He has the ability, judging by the neat way he turned onto the loose ball and smacked it into the net from a