The ‘Angel of Alkmaar’, landing haymakers for club, king and country

In the wake of West Ham’s Tin Pot semi-final win over AZ last week, one man was honoured as a hero, the very personification of all that is wholesome about the East End club who play in the famous claret and blue. Whereas last season it was Mark Noble who was hailed as a Euro legend by Hammers fans for his role in cleaning up the away dressing-room at Lyon, this year’s far more unlikely man of the hour is known as Chris “Knollsy” Knoll. Captured on camera dropping bodies like John Wick, Knollsy repelled hordes of the Dutch club’s ultras who were intent on trying to storm a stairwell in a bid to attack visiting fans seated in a section of the stand containing friends and family of West Ham’s players and backroom staff.

Keanu Reeves’ brooding assassin isn’t the only fictional character with whom Knollsy has drawn comparisons. His efforts have since been likened to those of Gandalf with the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-dum, Lieutenants John Chard and Gonville Bromhead fending off thousands of Zulu warriors at Rorke’s Drift, and Hodor holding the door closed against no end of undead wights. And while various West Ham staff, players and other fans deserve credit for their attempts to intervene in a bid to put a stop to AZ’s thugs, it was the 58-year-old father of four who was front, centre and making the headlines as he singlehandedly kept an army of hooligans at bay with a relentless series of haymakers landed for club, king and country.

Dubbed the “Angel of Alkmaar” in the aftermath of bravura heroics that left him exhausted but mercifully unharmed, apart from a ripped T-shirt and souvenir shiner, this one-man portcullis has since become quite the celebrity. Affectionately serenaded by fellow fans at West Ham’s win over