At 4.45pm on Monday, as the TV trucks pulled into St James’ Park and the glare of the world was on the home of Newcastle United, there was a fixture of equal significance kicking off in the suburbs.
On the parquet paved driveway of a Darras Hall mansion, a chauffeur-driven Mercedes S-Class, with its tan-leather interior, was being reversed through gates that are ordinarily locked shut.
A £150,000 Range Rover Vogue and a Mercedes V-Class people carrier with blacked-out windows were also parked up, careful not to clip the Mercedes G-Wagon of the resident.
Around this forecourt of affluence stood affluent men.