The attention-grabbing headline sent the crowd into a frenzy.

His apartment is a hole!

Southgate wanted to drive the uplift by getting onto the front foot, to pull Iran’s 5-4-1 system out of shape with quick movements and interplay, although there would be a pronounced false start, a break in the early rhythm.

But the streets were also a place of work: for the humble crossing-sweeper, for example, who tried to ensure, in return for a tip, that when persons of quality crossed the road they did so without having to pick their way through dust, mud and horse dung.