There were still more than two hours to kick-off when West Ham's players emerged to survey what they might have assumed would be an empty Eden Arena, fresh off the bus in their grey travelling tracksuits, but the noise soon told them otherwise.
In volume, it defied the reality of a West Ham end barely a tenth full (as would later become apparent, both 'sides' were West Ham, too), the acoustics in this compact ground enhanced by the roof's wooden underbelly, the kind you might more commonly find in a concert hall. In song-choice, it set the scene for a farewell to this European journey's on-field orchestrator.
