About 20 minutes after that a man on a ladder shouted "CHECKING THE GATE" and 200 people went silent in the same instant, and it is the exact noise a dressing room makes at 4 minutes to 3.
Then "GATE IS GOOD" and all 200 started talking again in the same half second, and Bec sent me to get something to drink while they turned the camera round.
Which is how I ended up at the trestle tables at 3 in the afternoon.
Zendaya. 21, half in costume, sat sideways on a plastic chair with 1 leg over the arm and a script folded backwards in her hand.
"You are the football guy."
"I am the football guy."
"Everybody has been talking about you since 8 this morning and I have had to pretend all day that I know what a Crystal Palace is."
"That is fair."
"So what is a Crystal Palace?"
I told her, and it took about 4 minutes, and she asked 3 questions and all 3 were good.
"Wait. You are 29?"
"I am 29."
"And you run a whole team of grown men."
"I do."
