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Jesse lingard's omission from Gareth Southgate's England squad assembled to play the delayed Euro's starting on the 13th of June, will have a knock on effect in many ways, not all of which are bad for West Ham. Lingard's stock and value sky rocketed following his loan deal to West Ham from Manchester united, such was his stunning form that he was included in Southgate's England squad for the first time since the 2018 World Cup.

According to various sources, West Ham are well on their way to their first major signing of the summer as they pursue a deal that will bring 'hot property' Alex Kral to the London Stadium, in fact some reports go as far as to say that the player has already agreed personal terms with West Ham United ahead of his anticipated move from Spartak Moscow.

Alan Pardew was always a bit Marmite for fans at most of the clubs he managed, before and after West Ham, but the one thing he did at every club was to make them money in the transfer market, either by astute signings domestically, or by finding new European sources for acquisitions.

Having shared in Brentord's joyous play off victory over Swansea, it was obvious how happy Hammer Winston Reid felt about the result. It wasn't just about the victory, it also had a lot to do with serendipity, it was playing against Swansea when Reid sustained his 'career ending' injury as a result of landing heavily on his knee after having been knocked unconscious.

Last year, thousands of West Ham fans were protesting outside the London Stadium. The main targets were owners David Gold and David Sullivan but many supporters were also disgruntled at the re-hiring of David Moyes as manager. West Ham went into the 2020/21 campaign being tipped for a relegation battle having finished 16th the previous season. It was no surprise that some pundits were even predicting they’d be relegated back to the Championship.

Personal reasons are being cited as the reason for Alan Irvine's surprise departure from David Moyes's coaching staff, it must be quite a serious set of circumstances that require the manager's No2 to step down so suddenly, and on the eve of Hammers Europa League adventure.

Irvine has been a mainstay of the backroom staff who have overseen the transition of the club from failures to winners, losing him will be a massive blow, only West Ham could allow such a situation to occur! The Scot will be replaced by another of his countrymen, Billy McKinlay.

West Ham fans finally realised a European dream that had escaped them since 1999’s Intertoto Cup triumph by securing sixth place in the Premier League. Although there have been a couple of play off game defeats since then, this is the very first time Hammers have qualified for the group stage of the Europa League.

Fabian Balbuena, AKA The General, looks all set to move from West Ham on a free transfer, with plenty of clubs showing interest in the formidable centre back.

West Ham: Fabiański, Coufal, Ogbonna, Dawson, Cresswell, Rice (c), Souček, Bowen, Lingard, Fornals, Antonio Subs: Randolph (GK), Fredericks, Johnson, Balbuena, Diop, Noble, Benrahma, Yarmolenko, Odubeko
Southampton: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Vestergaard, Bednarek, Salisu, Redmond, Ward-Prowse (c), Armstrong, Diallo, Minamino, Ings Subs: Forster (GK), Stephens, N'Lundulu, Romeu, Ferry, Djenepo, Walcott, Obafemi, Tella

The long and winding road of what has been the most extraordinary of seasons comes to a conclusion this afternoon with several key destinations still to be decided. For West Ham fans so used to number crunching ahead of the final game to see if the club is going to survive another term in the Barclays Premier League, events have taken on an almost surreal turn as they wait to see if the club will qualify for a 'proper' European competition, albeit the Europa League, as opposed to the much sought after Champions league, that has been missed at the final hurdle.