Never before had a Manchester United goalkeeper won Player of the Year at Old Trafford, let alone as many times as Cristiano Ronaldo.
David De Gea won it for a third successive season and, as well as showing how superb a shot-stopper he is, it also demonstrated a downfall at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013 and so did the goals. David Moyes and Louis van Gaal could not make them an attacking force again, but that's what Jose Mourinho must do.
Manchester United have always been about scoring goals – not stopping them – and Mourinho will try to not make the same mistakes as his predecessor.
Van Gaal told his wingers not to take on their man but rather wait for the full-backs to overlap.
He also told his players to take a touch inside the penalty area before shooting – an order which Jesse Lingard disobeyed to score the winner in the FA Cup final at Wembley last weekend.
They spent £250million under Van Gaal but could not qualify for the Champions League, or even deliver exciting football, and clean sheets being celebrated is not what their fans are used to.
Not after 26 years and 38 trophies under one manager.
Manchester United scored 86 goals in Ferguson's final season, when they were last crowned champions. The seasons before that, they scored 89, 78 and 86.
Under Moyes they scored just 64 goals, and it cost them Champions League football and his job.
Under Van Gaal they scored 62 in his first season – their second worst total in the Premier League. He was allowed another crack at it, but they then scored just 49, and he too was sacked.
This season saw their lowest goals total in the Premier League era, and they scored only one more than Sunderland and five than Newcastle, who were relegated to the Championship.
It's no wonder, then, that their lack of goals can be traced back to a lack of shots.
Under Sir Alex they did not dip below 400 shots a season. Not since Opta started collecting the data in 2003, anyway.
Moyes saw his United side shoot 396 times in 2013-14, while Van Gaal saw them shoot 368 and 293 times in 2014-15 and 2015-16, respectively.
Without De Gea, United would not have finished fifth, and Van Gaal knew it too.
At their Player of the Year awards evening, the since sacked manager said: 'Everyone knows he was invited to Madrid. His girlfriend is living in Madrid, his parents, Spanish.
'Real Madrid is a great club but he is still here and as a manager I am so happy he is here and he deserves to win this title.'
Dave Saves, as the banners and Manchester United's official Twitter account so often say, and that's what the 25-year-old did all season.
Yet we know what the supporters really want, and it's not 0-0s at half-time or goalkeepers being so relied upon to avoid defeat.
They want their team to 'attack, attack, attack' and that's what Mourinho must bring back to Old Trafford.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR WINNERS
2000-01: Teddy Sheringham2001-02: Ruud van Nistelrooy
2002-03: Ruud van Nistelrooy
2003-04: Cristiano Ronaldo
2004-05: Gabriel Heinze
2005-06: Wayne Rooney
2006-07: Cristiano Ronaldo
2007-08: Cristiano Ronaldo
2008-09: Nemanja Vidic
2009-10: Wayne Rooney
2010-11: Javier Hernandez
2011-12: Antonio Valencia
2012-13: Robin van Persie
2013-14: David De Gea
2014-15: David De Gea
2015-16: David De Gea
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