Mark Noble has accused people at West Ham United of getting “carried away” with talk of Champions League football and admitted that moving to the Olympic Stadium is proving tougher than the players had ever imagined. “To be honest the move has been harder than we thought it was going to be because when you were at Upton Park you sort of craved the games there,” said Noble. “You knew it would sort of guarantee you 20 points a season that place.”

By contrast, West Ham are now on a run of four straight Premier League defeats and have already suffered chastening losses at the newly named London Stadium against Watford, Southampton and even in the Europa League qualifier against Romanian team Astra Giurgiu.

Most worrying of all in the longer-term, however, is how so many supporters are reacting negatively to the experience of attending matches at their plush 60,000-capacity stadium. The attempt to enforce a ban on standing during matches has upset some fans, while the surrounding area and physical distance from the pitch for much of the fanbase stands in stark contrast to the far more compact Upton Park.