Believe it or not, this was an afternoon that had begun with a show of unity. On West Ham United’s first home game since the 25th anniversary of the death of Bobby Moore, the 55,000 supporters in the London Stadium had come together before kick-off in applause for the club’s former captain.

Barely an hour later, West Ham’s current captain was physically throwing a pitch invader to the ground, sparking a chain of events that led to hundreds of supporters hurling abuse at the club’s co-owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, and a group of children sheltering from the chaos on the Burnley bench.

The unrest had been simmering in recent weeks. That much was clear from the abuse that was directed at Gold outside Swansea City’s Liberty Stadium last weekend, and from the ongoing spat between various supporter groups over a cancelled march of protest.

But this was not just a case of those tensions spilling over.