The dejected drive back down the M6 on Tuesday night was made worse by the feeling that had Didier Drogba started the game, rather than merely the second half, Chelsea might still be in the Champions League.

His equaliser, when the Blues were down to 10 men thanks to Ramires’ sending-off, was instantly cancelled out by another Manchester United goal that took the wind out of Chelsea’s sails and effectively killed off the quarter-final.

Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to start with Fernando Torres up front, despite the Spaniard still failing to click, led to dark speculation that owner Roman Abramovich might be pulling the strings.

But what will surely have given Abramovich pause for thought as he slipped out of Old Trafford moments before the final whistle is that his ‘new season, new manager’ policy might not be as effective as the Alex Ferguson model of stable management.

Abramovich is like a child with a collection of toy soldiers. He occasionally reaches out and moves them around the nursery, and sees nothing wrong in buying a new one whenever he wants..

Since graduating from selling plastic ducks on a stall in a Moscow street to being one of the world’s best-known billionaire oligarchs, he has become accustomed to buying what takes his fancy.

He already has a fine art collection, and thinks of his prize footballers in the same way. Like the paintings that hang on his wall, he likes to sit and look at them when he chooses to.

And Chelsea fans can’t really say boo to him. Before Abramovich arrived, the Blues were just muddling along, perhaps picking up a trophy every 30 or 40 years.

Today, thanks to Roman’s wealth, the club is one of the top three in the UK.

It’s sometimes difficult to remember, but if you had suggested to anyone in the 1980s that Chelsea were even in British football’s top 10, they would have laughed themselves silly.

So we put this season behind us, and wait to see what toys Uncle Roman buys us next.