Paul Lyon: Harry Redknapp to be caretaker manager. Attacking football, gets the best from his players, champions league experience and best of all king of the jungle.

Craig Estherby: As a season ticket holder I’m glad he has gone. I wouldn’t touch Zidane with a barge pole, he’s never built a team! I’d be happy with either Pochettino or Howe and see if Giggs would take the helm until the end of the season.

Fahad Khan: United should plan to go for Antonio Conte. This team badly needs some discipline

More from former Manchester United winger Sharpe: "He has not picked a regular back four. Some of it is due to injury but he doesn't have a settled defence, he likes to kill a game before he wins it and that is not the philosophy of Manchester United.

"They gave him a good contract last year but they haven't backed him. They've then given him players he didn't want.

"He was never my first choice for manager. They weren't in Europe at the time and he was someone who could bring in big names and raise standards. He had a winning mentality and he has brought that to the club. But it was never done in the Man Utd way. I think it was a mistake but I can see why they have done it that way."

On the timing... to appease the unhappy players who might have wanted to leave in January? Particularly a French World Cup-winning midfielder who cost £90m?

Former Manchester United winger Lee Sharpe, speaking to BBC Radio 5 live: "The timing is a little bit weird.

"They have four games in 10 or 12 days. They obviously don't have anyone lined up permanently and I just think it is because the team is not playing great and have had poor results.

"The demeanour of Jose Mourinho and the players has dropped. They have probably accepted they are not going to make top four spot now is the time to change."

Lies, damn lies and statistics. The numbers which contributed to Jose's demise...

• United's haul of 26 points after their first 17 Premier League games, is their worst tally in the top flight at this stage since 1990-91.
• They are 11 points off the top four and closer to the relegation zone than the top of the table.
• Second bottom Huddersfield Town (28) have conceded fewer Premier League goals so far in 2018-19 than Manchester United (29)
• Only Fulham, Cardiff, Burnley and Southampton conceding more than the Red Devils under Jose Mourinho.

Not sure if you can see this image very well - hopefully you'll get the picture with a bit of an explanation.

The red zig-zagged line represents the number of Google searches for Laurent Blanc over the past few hours.

That's much higher than the blue line ('next utd manager'), purple ('zidane'), green ('carrick') and yellow ('jardim').

Image source, Google

Another name is coming up quickly in the rear-view mirror... Laurent Blanc.

Former United player. Good coaching pedigree. Without a club.

All the boxes ticked for the incoming temporary boss.

The incoming temporary boss might like the look of the next few fixtures....

Sat 22 Dec: Cardiff City v Manchester United

Wed 26 Dec: Manchester United v Huddersfield Town

Sun 30 Dec: Manchester United v Bournemouth

Sho: My dream scenario is Pochettino in charge working under Van Der Sar as Director of Football. Then give Poch 3 years to build a title winning side and one that can challenge to win the Champions League also.

aaron gaughan: Why appoint a caretaker manager. Give it Butt and Carrick, until May. In the meantime, go into talks with Zidane. If not he'll be Munich bound next season. I guess it's going to be a quiet January. In the transfers market at Utd. The virus has been nullified.

cazzy4kimi: As happy as i was to hear the news this morning when my colleague told me, its now embarrassing to read the fall out. As a humble mu fan I've never like jose, and I'm glad he's gone, I've wanted him our since the beginning! He's run our club into the ground

Mourinho won three titles at Chelsea in two stints at the Stamford Bridge club. He was sacked by the Blues in December 2017 before going on to take over at Old Trafford.

Chelsea assistant Gianfranco Zola has been speaking today before the side's League Cup quarter-final against Bournemouth...

How far does it take to get to the Racecourse Ground from the Lowry Hotel in the motor?

Football writer Jonathan Wilson, speaking to the BBC News Channel: It is three years and day since he was sacked by Chelsea and there is this continual pattern of him leaving in the third season.

The difference is that at Porto, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Chelsea on two occasions he won the title in the second year.

That will be the concern for Jose Mourinho he never looked like mastering his brief at Manchester United. Maybe it is because Sir Alex Ferguson was such an outlier that our perception is a little warped, but the shelf life for a top-class manager is usually a decade. It is an exhausting job to keep evolving and adapting.

Mourinho’s football now looks old-fashioned and slow compared to others' emphasis on pressing and dynamism. And crucially it has not produced results.

Watch more from Meulensteen...

Former Manchester United first-team coach Rene Meulensteen, who worked under Sir Alex Ferguson, has given his take.

"The players look a little lost," he said. "There is no really clear direction and especially not in line with United under Sir Alex Ferguson for so many years.

"You need to have someone who understands the size of Manchester United, the identity and culture that united have always had and have the ability to galvanise the players to get the best out of them. It is a big, big task.

"There has been a breakdown in communications in various departments - with Mourinho and the board in terms of the transfer expectations and with the manager and his players."

George Cummins
BBC Radio 5 live at Hotspur Way

Caption this...

Image source, BBC Sport

We are here at Hotspur Way waiting for Mauricio Pochettino ahead of tomorrow’s match with Arsenal.

Due to speak to the media at 12:30. Although it normally starts just after 13:00.

To pinch a line from one of my colleagues here....”I’m not sure if we will be asking who starts at right back tomorrow.”

Alexander Skulnick: Eddie Howe would be the best fit next at OT. Good faith in young players, pass and move football and a nice guy to boot! Having said that, I'm a Liverpool fan so I'll take Van Gaal back please!

Stuart Mitchell: Any ambitious manager should be looking at the Man Utd job as an opportunity. United have regressed since SAF but they are still a huge club, with big pulling power and therein lies the challenge to try and get them back to that level. Jose failed who's next to try?

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer

Jose Mourinho's departure means there is no longer any hiding place for those Manchester United players who have performed so poorly this season - their shield has been removed.

Mourinho has performed lamentably as Manchester United's manager for some time now but so have many of star names.

Everything about Mourinho's selection, tactics and the performance of Manchester United's players at Liverpool on Sunday screamed of a managerial reign nearing the end and a sign of just how bad things currently are at Old Trafford is that the club's hierarchy have decided to end it so suddenly.

Read more from Phil on Mourinho's sacking