It was no wonder sacked Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag had a smile on his face as he was pictured boarding a private jet to the Netherlands on Monday.
The failed boss will reportedly receive a £15million golden goodbye for leaving the Premier League giants.
And as the 54-year-old rues his swift departure and considers his next move, he’ll also no doubt be thinking about how he might spend his unexpected windfall.
A spot of retail therapy will help Erik take his mind off his unceremonious shafting, so we decided to help him out - with 15 things he could splash the £15million on…
Image:
Eamonn and James Clarke)1 - A (small) superyacht
Status symbol of the world's uber-wealthy, some superyachts are too expensive even for ten Hag's payoff, like the 531-foot, 51-roomed Dubai, which sold for a massive £500million.
But he could go for something a bit more modest, like the 47m Berilda, launched in 2001 , which can accommodate up to 10 guests in five rooms - each with an en-suite bathroom and is on sale for nearly £15million.
2 - Tranmere Rovers
Rihanna's rapper boyfriend A$AP Rocky is reportedly in talks to acquire League 2 football club Tranmere Rovers in a deal worth around £15million for an 80% stake, along with the possibility of a Welcome to Wrexham-style TV series.
But if ten Hag gets there first it could all be his instead.
3 - An Arctic holiday
Ariodante, an ultra-luxury travel company based in London, have advertised a once-in-a-lifetime luxury holiday package that offers adventurers the chance to explore the furthest reaches of the Arctic.
They will reach Kaffeklubben which, says the brochure, "is currently the northernmost point on land on Earth. And then we will reach an undiscovered land". Priced at £15.3million, if ten Hag wants to get a long way away he could just about afford it.
Image:
Universal Images Group via Getty Images)4- Wayne Rooney's house
Man United legend Rooney Cheshire sex-bed mansion includes a football pitch, an indoor swimming pool, two fishing lakes, a cinema, a wine cellar, a snooker room and a massive garage for his luxury car collection.
It was built from the ground up at a cost of around £20 million. And with Rooney under pressure after getting sacked at Birmingham earlier this year and another dismal managerial start with Plymouth, he might be open to offers.
5- 150 nights in world's most expensive hotel room
The Royal Mansion at the Atlantis The Royal in Dubai is considered the world's most expensive hotel room, with a starting price of around £100,000 per night.
The 11,840-square-foot duplex is spread across the 18th and 19th floors of the resort and comes with its own butler, a private chef's kitchen, and a triple-height library. Erik ten Hag's payout means he could put his feet up there for the next five months.
6 - Feeling good by giving it charity
Giving to charity is good for the soul, which ten Hag might need right now.
And there are lots of good causes he could donate his windfall to. Last week the DEC Middle East Humanitarian Appeal launched a campaign to raise £15million of urgently needed funds to support millions of people across the Middle East whose lives have been devastated by conflict.
7- A famous masterpiece
Titian's famous Rest on the Flight into Egypt, a small wooden painting depicting Mary cradling Jesus under the watchful gaze of Joseph, was recently auctioned by at Christie’s London and fetched £16million.
If he can't afford the extra million, there are many other works of art coming up for sale which ten Hag could snap up, such as the Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian, a banana duct-taped to a wall, which Sotheby’s is valuing at £1million, and which would look great on the Dutchman's living room wall.
8 - A bay front Florida villa
If ten Hag wants to splash all the cash in one go, he could snap up this mansion in Naples, Florida, recently featured by Christie's Real Estate. As well as five bedrooms, the house has its own elevator which rises to the roof deck and a 360-degree view of the bay.
It also has a fitness studio, a saltwater pool and spa, two offices, a screening room, a billiards lounge, and a four-car garage.
9 - Joining the world's most expensive golf clubs
Ten Hag's favourite hobby is golf, and he's now got a lot of time on his hands, so why not make the most of it by playing at some of the world's top clubs?
At £385,000, the Madison Club, a prestigious exclusive club in La Quinta, California, has the world's most expensive golf club membership fee and boasts a star-studded list of members, including the Kardashian family and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Next is the Liberty National New Jersey at 346,000, and The Vintage Club in Indian Wells, California, at £231,000, while St Andrew's in Scotland costs around £150,000. But with ten Hag's golden goodbye, he could join all of them.
10 - The most expensive ever Porsche
Immortalised in the Steve McQueen-starring film, Le Mans, the 1970 Porsche 917K has gone down in history as the most expensive Porsche ever sold. Auctioned by Gooding and Company in 2017, it went for $14,080,000 - nearly £11million.
Or Ten Hag could buy 150 Porsche Caymans, which sell from £100,000.
11 - Drinking a lot of the world's priciest coffee
If ten Hag feels like he's been chewed up and expelled, he might feels an affinity with Kopi Luwak, the world's most exclusive - and most expensive - coffee, which is produced from coffee beans which have been digested by the Indonesian palm civet and then excreted.
A single cup of the cofee can cost £80 - but with ten Hag's £15million that could buy 187,500 cups.
12 - A stock of the world's best cheese
Currently considered the world's best cheese, a 24-pound wheel of Dutch Vemeer, which boasts a delicate, fruity taste, was recently auctioned off for £6,450, or £269 per pound.
So Dutchman ten Hag could chomp his sorrows away by buying 25 tonnes of the stuff.
13 - A trip into space and back... 43 times
Ten Hag isn't quite in the league for Elon Musk's SpaceX, whose three-day stay inside SpaceX’s Dragon capsule circling around Earth costs £55million.
But he could go on Virgin Galactic's 90-minute ride to 50 kilometres above Earth in a SpaceShipTwo spaceplane, with a few minutes of zero-gravity experience during descent, 43 times. Each trip costs £346,000.
14 - 529 bottles of world's most expensive wine
The French Leroy Musigny Grand Cru is this year's most expensive wine, according to WineSearcher, with a bottle costing £28,318 on average.
It means ten Hag could drown his sorrows - a bottle a day - for the next year and a half.
15 - Or lastly, a Fukang Meteorite
If he doesn't fancy going up into space, ten Hag might have sympathy with a rock that unexpectedly crashed down to earth with a bang.
Found in 2000 in the Gobi Desert in China's Xinjiang Province, the Fukang Meteorite is thought to be 4.5 billion years old, meaning that this rock is almost the same age as our planet or older. It’s one of the most expensive meteorites in the world, but with a £1.7million price tag well within the former Man United boss's reach.
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