Manchester United fans must truly be in mourning.
If Ferguson's men were humbled in the 2009 Champions League final, then this year's defeat must surely count as a humiliation. The first ten minutes apart, when they briefly threatened to assert themselves on the game, United were bested by Barcelona, man for man, with Wayne Rooney perhaps the only player to emerge with his reputation intact.
And now they must contemplate a future without Paul Scholes.
Scholes will be remembered as the model pro: a player who did his talking on the pitch; a player who eschewed celebrity status, truly dedicated to his art. A one club man - increasingly an anomaly in the modern game - he was the bedrock on which Manchester United built their late 1990s/early 2000s success: a member of Sir Alex's "golden generation."
His passing was extraordinary. Dubbed "Sat Nav" by Rio Ferdinand, Scholes' brief cameo on Saturday, in a losing cause, reminded us of the unerring accuracy he still possesses. He can still ping a ball 40 yards to feet. The skill remains: it is mobility that has begun to desert him. And there's no shame in that. It comes to us all.
In his pomp he was the conductor of Ferguson's orchestra, dictating tempo, shaping the United ensemble's slick passing moves into glorious and emphatic crescendos. Often it was he himself who applied the finishing touch.
I have always thought of Scholes as a goalscorer - as we all know: "Paul Scholes, he scores goals" - but I was surprised to discover that he only hit 20 goals in a season once in his career. In my memory, at his peak, he was as prolific as, say, Frank Lampard, but the statistics don't back this up. Perhaps it is the sheer number of his goals that stick in the memory that have made him seem like a 20 goal a season man.
He was certainly a scorer of great goals, and could strike a ball as cleanly as any player in the modern game. Witness his volley against Aston Villa...
It is surely Sven Goran Eriksson's greatest crime against English football - and there were a few - that his marginalising of Paul Scholes led to the player's retirement from internationals. The damage was irreversible: many tried to persuade him to return but all ultimately failed, including Capello last summer.
Under Sven, Scholes found himself, rather improbably, on the left of midfield. But great players often seem to suffer in this way. Their talent is their undoing. Managers choose to play them out of position - rather than players who are perhaps less important to the side - because they believe that they have the quality to adapt. It is a problem that Steven Gerrard has suffered from in recent years.
Scholes has, in truth, been in decline as a footballer for a couple of seasons now. Frustrated at being on the fringes of the side and unable to affect the game as he would like, he has decided that now is the right time to set down his baton and step away from the podium.
Ferguson needs a new conductor. And be it Wesley Schneider or perhaps Luka Modric, the ginger maestro's shoes are going to be massive ones to fill.
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