West Ham United have, quite remarkably, sold out the Home allocation for the 1st leg of their UEFA Europa League qualifier against Andorran minnows, FC Lusitans. The Andorran club are also rumoured to be bringing over 82 fans with them for the encounter. No mean feat whatsoever, when you consider the club travelling to East London has previously lost European ties by double-digit scorelines.

Affordable Football 

Earlier in the year the club unveiled the pricing structure for the tickets and seating at the club's soon to be home, the Olympic Stadium. The prices for season tickets put West Ham as the cheapest ticket in the league for the 2016/17 season. The cheapest adult season ticket will be a mere £289, meaning prices have been more than halved.  

The two chairmen David Gold and David Sullivan have maintained the need for 'affordable football' by pricing the Europa League qualifier at a thoroughly impressive £10 for adults and £5 for children. Talking to the Daily Mail, David Sullivan said of the now sold-out clash: "Success is participation, giving fans a taste of Europe...We’ll be pricing the games to sell them out and anticipate very large gates from the early rounds on. Our supporters are very excited."  

Other clubs fans have had their ears, and eyebrows, raised by the news - the vast majority have taken to social media to congratulate the East London club for making it more appetising to go, especially at those sort of costs. It's something the players have also touched on in recent days, Aaron Cresswell told West Ham TV, "...It just shows you the passion from the fans, to sell 30,000 up to now for the game on Thursday." 

A club on the up

Not only do West Ham fans have European football to look forward to, there is cause for excitement both elsewhere off the pitch and on it too. The club have been making some shrewd acquisitions in the transfer window already - in Spanish youngster Pedro Obiang, and highly-rated creative midfielder Dimitri Payet from Marseille. Deals for the club's two loaned players from last season in Carl Jenkinson and Alex Song are still being negotiated, with the Hammers even attempting to secure Song on a permanent basis on a free transfer.  

Of course there is also the excitement that has come with the rather fan-appeasing appointment of Slaven Bilić. The man who once played for the Hammers in the late 1990's, is now back and managing the club he built a strong relationship with, even though his stint at the club was short-lived.  The club have also appointed Chris Woods the highly-regarded goalkeeping coach who has worked with the USA team, Everton and Manchester United before being replaced when Louis van Gaal joined the club, the move to East London will hopefully prove as fruitful for first-team goalkeeper Adrían as Wood's guidance did for USA/Everton's Tim Howard.  

A warm return

One man who has returned as well in recent days is Julian Dicks. Also known as 'The Terminator' from his playing time at the club, where he was renowned for his hard tackling, his no-nonsense style of play and his absolutely thunderous shots with his left foot. Dicks had managed at lower-league levels including teams like Wivenhoe Town, Sealand and most notably Grays Athletic - before becoming the West Ham Ladies manager. Dicks' time with the Ladies was fruitful, the Ladies began to get larger audiences, he also guided the club to a higher placed finish and an unsuccessful London FA Capital Cup Final.