Terrace Talk: A gruelling journey to be done by the direct route

You’ve got to put the effort in to provide the atmosphere that helps fuel an £8.5bn (€9.6bn) TV contract. A 5.30am alarm starts the trip to Old Trafford and heading out into the pitch black of a morning on the first day of winter, it’s difficult not to briefly question sanity.

First target is the 8am from Euston via an early tube train liberally scattered with builders and cleaners as London draws those who service and create but rarely share the spoils into its centre.

Pre-match is dominated by talk of another figure drawn from the edge of the capital’s sprawl onto centre stage, Chigwell’s Harry Kane. An injury at first underplayed became a no-go at the Friday press conference. But these days, there’s always a suspicion that selection comments before games need to be taken with a pinch of salt.