You couldn’t quite see the whites of their eyes as West Ham’s under fire regime glared out of the directors box at the mess they have conceived - but you could see all those white seats.
That alone showed that the boycott of the Brentford game had succeeded. In the glare of the TV spotlight, they couldn’t hide any longer, embarrassed maybe, even humiliated. Karren Brady and David Sullivan, surrounded by loved ones, must have squirmed.
Because the one thing this board hate most is scrutiny and it came with all those white seats in full view of a football TV audience.
They had done all they could to deflate the fans’ protest that followed the vote of no confidence from the FAB and Hammers United in the way the regime run our club.
For some time now this fan’s protest has been largely ignored by mainstream media, ridiculed by TalkSport, while even some of our own fans who claim the whole thing is pointless and won’t change a thing.
By the end of a dismal night, a terrible performance and a fourth successive home league defeat, it was all out there in the open.
There's no hiding place now. Sky, who do all they can to protect the brand for obvious reasons, were openly discussing the issues, the real ones and not just the perception that this all just abut about the stadium and the move from Upton Park.
Jamie Carragher, not always the sharpest tool in the box, got it. Full on, he nailed it with an attack on the way Sullivan runs the club, outdated. You’ve all probably seen his words by now, and they must have stung.
And then BBC, so lukewarm over it all and more bothered about how it effects the players, produced three items on their website taking the fans’ fears seriously. However the grifters and the spinners view the boycott, trying to dismiss it as ineffective, that amount of top line media reaction has served its purpose.
How many were in the ground? How many stayed at home in the pub? It almost didn’t matter because the sharp glare of the spotlight was on the board. Their faces, frozen in obvious annoyance, were shown worldwide.
The sight of Sullivan huddled with his son Jack, who with his brother we are told is now taking an active role in running the club, could not escape the spotlight.
If 20,000 season ticket holders stayed away and did not put their tickets on the club exchange, that’s an alarming vote of no confidence. A figure of 39,966 for the attendance has been bandied around, the club - who refrained from publishing an attendance figure in their match report - would never admit that and will in time announce their usual 62,000 plus attendance, which we all know includes season ticket sales.
The success of the night will encourage further action. Black balloons at Leeds on Friday, on TV again, and a post-match sit-in for the Newcastle game next month, which will no doubt annoy stadium security. Then a big march for the Burnley game on 8 November.
It’s not going away, is it? Fans though are still split, and those who attended the Brentford match are perfectly entitled to the view that they were supporting the new manager and the team. Neither side should be digging each other out over this.
There were members of my own group who attended. It’s their pleasure, family and friends day out. And that’s fine. Some were not there.
Some you may have noticed a kind wish of good health for me from friend and colleague Gordon on KUMB this week. A bit too long in hospital of late, bits of me don’t seem to be working too well. So my boycott was in spirit only, and my good lady confiscated the TV remote at the end suggesting this was not good for my heart. West Ham do that to you.
But being laid up has allowed me far too much time to review all sides of this. And the fact that the club, rather than address the concerns of the fans, sought to do everything they could to dilute the effect of a boycott they knew would leave far too many empty seats on Monday.
Kids for a quid on a school night, are they sure about the look of that? Heavy marketing, ticket exchange seemingly open far quicker than usual, top price tickets being flogged at laughable prices... it must have been nice sitting next to someone paying half what you do!
And then there was the verbiage from the grifters beforehand. Long discussion about why the stadium would never be ours, then announcing there were still 2,886 tickets unsold on ticket exchange at 20.30.
It wouldn’t have been us without an attack on the stadium owners, the mayor and Lyn Garner, who used to be in charge of the LLDC. Her compensation, listing what this career civil service administrator does now was as out of order and petty as it was irrelevant.
You could go on, but the board’s stance of confrontation is so obvious even Carragher could see it. Even TalkSport called the evening’s event ”effective”, and that after all that spiteful bullshit from rent-a-quote, permatanned Simon Jordan, who seems to know all there is to know about failing football clubs.
So was Monday's boycott a success? Of course it was. Some fans point to the size of the crowd as a suggestion of failure. I’m sure the board watching TV now will only see the grim light in which they are being painted. All their own fault, surely?
* Like to share your thoughts on this article? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.
* Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the highlighted author/s and do not necessarily represent or reflect the official policy or position of KUMB.com.