Armband

Only a captain should wear an armband on the field.

The soldier was wearing a swastika armband.

“The big change”, said Fighting Red (who was an 18 year old girl drama student; Red Guards took on new “revolutionary” names) “was when Chairman Mao had the big August 18 rally in T’ien An Men Square and said he was joining the Red Guards and let them put the arm band on him.

A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After Fifa’s about-turn, it must have been a frantic few days for the England kit manufacturer. The on-field challenge was altogether more straightforward.

The biggest cheer of the night came shortly afterwards. St James’ Park finally found its voice to welcome back Jonás Gutiérrez into a Newcastle side for the first time since his diagnosis with testicular cancer 17 months ago. Hugged by his friend Coloccini, Gutiérrez was handed the captain’s armband after replacing Ryan Taylor at left-back and promptly collected a booking for fouling Adnan Januzaj – on for a frustrated Angel Di Maria.