Louis van Gaal has accused Manchester United of hanging him out to dry with his controversial sacking after he had led the club to FA Cup glory.
The Dutchman has finally broke his silence over his ruthless departure from Old Trafford less than 24 hours after the 2-1 Wembley victory over Crystal Palace in May 2016.
Van Gaal compared his removal to a humiliating public execution after insisting chief executive Ed Woodward went behind his back to lure Jose Mourinho to Manchester following the Portuguese's exit from Chelsea.
Van Gaal, who has previously refused to comment over his sacking, said: “United put my head in a noose and I was publicly placed on the gallows.
“The pressure was enormous with my head in the noose and they went right behind my back.
“I think it was all orchestrated like a film and it was done very much behind my back right from January.
“My wife, Truus, told me that the attitude of the board had changed. Women have this intuition. They smell it.
“I denied it, even to my wife, because between me as a manager and the chief executive Ed Woodward, everything was running as normal.”
Van Gaal began feeling undermined when United legends like Gary Neville and Paul Scholes criticised his style of football.
But the Dutchman felt safe because Woodward had handed him a three-year contract when he quit his post as Holland's manager to take up United's offer to succeed David Moyes because he had only wanted a 24-month deal.
He describes the way United launched their charm offensive to land Mourinho as the biggest humiliation of his career.
Van Gaal said: “Suddenly former players started to yap in the media that we were playing boring football and Mourinho's sacking made it very attractive for everyone to keep bashing me.
“I do understand that choice of United to get Mourinho.
“I never wanted more than two years anyway. Man United wanted three years.
“Suddenly, Mourinho was out after one-and-a-half years of my contract and I knew United wanted him one day.
“They told me only after it was leaked out and it was the biggest disappointment of my life.
“United did not discuss this with me. If they had come to me with the Mourinho plan then I could have said 'okay, let's give it everything for the last six months, complete commitment to each other and the team and then Jose Mourinho can take over.'
“They could have saved the last year of my salary by doing that but after what happened I made them pay every penny.”