Around 7,000 West Ham supporters – young and old – made the early-evening trip across London to huddle in the lower tier of the Emirates’ Clock End. Those hands had been ticking for 24 years without a night like this. Those in claret and blue were made to wait 90 minutes more but then champagne bubbles blew into the dark skies and the class of 2023 took their place in Hammers folklore.
Not since Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and West Ham’s Generation ’99 have West Ham been in the FA Youth Cup final. Let alone win it.