From the Boardroom - David Gold



The games are certainly coming thick and fast for the Club and I have never experienced such congestion when it comes to pre-season action.


But I have to say that Slaven Bilic is dealing with the amount of games in a very sensible manner and is providing the right balance when it comes to playing the senior and young players.


He is mixing and matching the squad for each game and making sure everybody gets the right amount of minutes under their belts before the Premier League season gets underway.


The Europa League action continues this week and I was so pleased with how professional the players acted during the penalty shoot-out victory over Birkirkara in Malta last week.


If we continue to take penalties like that I don't think we will have any problems winning another shoot-out if we need one at a later stage.


It was always going to be a tricky night after James Tomkins was sent off just before the half-time. But the players never gave in and showed how serious they are taking the competition.


We have got to learn from the first two rounds and hope we don't have any more suspensions after seeing Diafra Sakho and James Tomkins sent off.


This is European football and we need to be aware of the tactics our opponents will use. We cannot afford to lose our discipline and hopefully we will not have another dismissal in the rest of the competition.


Luckily it has not cost us so far and we have been able to reach the third qualifying stage where we now face another tough test against a good FC Astra team.


The home game is important for the Club because we would like to gain a good advantage in the first leg and head to Romania with a comfortable lead.


That would then allow Slaven to make a decision on which squad he takes with him for the second leg and whether he can leave out players who might have a niggling injury ahead of the first game at Arsenal just three days later.


We are close to capacity once again for the game on Thursday night and I cannot thank the fans enough for their amazing support.


It tells us how passionate the supporters are towards West Ham United and they will support the Club through anything.


The new Stadium is not that far away and they have the desire to be at these special events. We have not been in Europe for a long time and the fans want to make the most of it and see us progress.


I know it is going to be another great night under the lights on Thursday and we will hopefully get to see Dimitri Payet make his European debut for the Club.


Dimitri is a special talent and he has wasted no time settling into his new surroundings. We are all hoping he is going to set the Premier League alight.


He certainly has the skills to be a big success and I'm looking forward to seeing him play against the best teams in the top flight.


We have certainly put the miles in both on and off the field and we are a better team heading into the opening league game against Arsenal than we were 12 months ago.


I know the Band 2 season tickets recently went on sale for the new Stadium and I would once again urge any supporters who are not on the priority list to register so they don't miss out on getting a seat at our amazing new home.


You only have to look at our final ever season at the Boleyn Ground to see that season tickets have already sold out and the games will sell out. Fans realise that something special is happening here and they all want to be a part of it.