It was a man against boys at the top of the concrete steps leading to the seats where West Ham’s VIP guests sat in a state of fear at AZ Alkmaar’s stadium on Thursday night.
A group of Dutch youths, all in dark coats with hoods up, some wearing balaclavas, smashed down a metal fence and flooded up the touchline, some waving their arms in the air before scaling the staircase to confront the visiting contingent. That is where they encountered a burly Londoner of considerable proportions who swatted the boys away like flies, directing punches and kicks at them as they clung on to his T-shirt and ducked.