We feared the end may be a whimper, but it turned out to be a bang. West Ham’s thrilling 3-2 win over Manchester United in the final game at the Boleyn was everything the fans dreamed of.

In one of the most memorable nights ever seen at the old stadium, today’s heroes emulated the glories of their former team mates and provided an evening that will be talked about in the East End for many years to come.

In an earlier edition of a national newspaper, one hardy soul had tried to catalogue the top ten highlights of the Boleyn. Had the move to Stratford taken place a year hence, it’s likely Tuesday night’s game would have been added to the list.

Sad as it was to at last wave goodbye to the hallowed ground though, there is a general consensus – even by the doubters of a few years back – that the move to Stratford is right and necessary. And it may be considered a sort of heresy to some, but to those whose memory extends long past the Year Zero of the Premier League, the real Golden Nights of Green Street belonged to a another time anyway.

The fact is the intimidating atmosphere of the ground was pretty much demolished with the North and South Bank. The inability of the club to replace the old East Stand meant the stadium always had a lop-sided feel to it after the West Stand and hotel had been added. There were some magical individual memories, of course, but truly great games to rival the likes of those seen in earlier decades were rare indeed.

Such was the legendary status of the ground however, a later generation believed that little had changed and, as is the way of things, old tales were simply embellishments on a good story. It wasn’t like that though. When a supporter could reach out and touch the shirt of a flying winger or a full-back taking a throw-in or corner, the sense of claustrophobia, threat and intimidation was overwhelming. Tuesday’s night’s game – along with the play-off second leg victory over Ipswich – was one of the few occasions the atmosphere came close to those former times.

Not that it matters. Whatever your Boleyn memory, it is now just that; a memory. Next season, a new adventure begins and, the fact is, no-one knows what the new stadium will feel like until August. Nobody will be able to tell the midfielder he’s useless as he takes the corner, that is for certain, but if the stadium can capture the best nights at the Boleyn and combine it with that of the 2012 Olympics then perhaps the next generation won’t need to put up with stories of ‘when we was in Green Street’.

Personally though, I’m going to linger a little longer along the Barking Road. Here at Blagg Acres, the astonishing Cup Winners Cup quarter-final against Den Haag and the unbelievably tense semi-final against Eintracht Frankfurt are on hard rotation. For some, that’s the real legacy of the Boleyn.

Now the dogs bark and the caravan moves on.