A great migration from the north east of England had colonised the centre of London on Saturday night.
The Geordie invasion had overwhelmed Trafalgar Square at the heart of the capital and then on Sunday morning, it had moved north and west to the outskirts of the city.
In this football era of creeping corporatism, the hunger and the fervour of Newcastle’s support felt like a throwback to a different age.
Inside the stadium, the hordes raised their black and white flags in giant stripes at their end of Wembley. After so many years in the wilderness, they had convinced themselves this was their moment to storm the barricades of the old order but this was an uprising that reached the gates of the palace and then could go no further.