West Ham United are delighted to announce the appointment of former Hammers captain Steve Lomas as the club's new reserve-team manager.
The 37-year-old spent eight-and-a-half seasons in the West Ham midfield, making 227 appearances and scoring 13 goals. Lomas also earned 45 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring three times.
After retiring from the game in January 2008, the popular player took up a short-term coaching role within Norwich City's Academy before managing United Counties League Premier Division side St Neots Town, where he worked alongside former Hammers team-mate Michael Hughes.
Lomas has been apppointed following the departure of Alex Dyer, who has taken the role of assistant manager at Charlton Athletic.
With nine Barclays Premier League fixtures still to play, the new boss is looking forward to the challenge.
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"I start work against Arsenal and there are a lot of first-team players involved which is good. As reserve-team manager, I'll act as that little buffer between the young players coming up and obviously the first teamers coming down. I think the role is also to help the young professionals along the way."
"I love football so, for me, this job is fantastic. When you're in any job, you moan about it, but when you're out of it you're desperate to get back into it.
"Football is in my blood. I've been involved in football for all my life and it's the only thing I've ever known so it's fantastic for me to come back to such a great club. I had eight-and-a-half years here that I thoroughly enjoyed, so to come back and help the young boys to kick-on and make the first team then that'll be great.
"We've got some really good games coming up, some really good tests - we've got Manchester United away, Sunderland away and of course Arsenal at home on Tuesday. I'm really excited and really looking forward to it."
Lomas will take a West Ham squad containing plenty of experience, with the likes of Radoslav Kovac, Winston Reid, Luis Boa Morte, Pablo Barrera, Julien Faubert, Zavon Hines and Herita Ilunga all set to be included against the Gunners.
West Ham welcome Arsenal to Bishop's Stortford FC's Woodside Park full of confidence following a comfortable 2-0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at the same venue last week.
Kick-off is at 7pm. Admission for season ticket holders is free. Non-season ticket holder prices are £3 for Adults and £2 for Under-16s. Fans should note that there is also extensive free car parking available at Woodside Park.