Slaven's Season Ticket Surprise

Hammers manager pays his first visit to the new Stadium Reservation Centre
West Ham United supporters selecting their new Stadium seats got a whole lot more than they bargained for on Thursday when manager Slaven Bilic paid a surprise visit to the Club’s Stratford Reservation Centre. 

Fresh from Tuesday’s dramatic last-gasp FA Cup victory over Liverpool, Bilic surprised unsuspecting Hammers in this, the first week of appointments for supporters on the New Stadium Season Ticket Priority List.            

Now that all invitations to existing Season Ticket Holders have been issued, with upward of 98 per cent taking up their seat, the Club have begun the process of inviting supporters on the 30,000-plus strong Priority List.    

With some six months still to go before the big kick-off in August, the Hammers have already sold more Season Tickets at their new 54,000 seat home than the 35,016 capacity of the Boleyn Ground.

Thrilled by the Hammers’ unbelievable show of support and the prospect of selling out the new Stadium, the Croat said: “It’s full of people. It is buzzing here. And we are all proud and happy that people are able to get their tickets and look forward to the next season.”

Looking at the range of seats on offer to the fans, the Hammers boss said: “In the new Stadium, you can’t get a bad seat. You are definitely guaranteed to get a good view anywhere you sit. It looks as though the Stadium is going to be sold out, and that is great.”

Earlier in the week Joint-Chairman David Gold had met some of the very first supporters on the Priority List to snap up their seats on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Mr Gold said the extraordinary demand for tickets is proof that the Club’s affordable pricing strategy is absolutely right. 

“The strategy is working,” he confirmed. To give you an idea, we were predicting perhaps half of fans on the waiting list would go on and buy a ticket, but actually it’s more like 80 per cent at the moment, so we know that we're doing the right thing.

 “We were always confident. All the statistics showed that we should come close to filling the Stadium, but until it starts happening, you're always questioning your judgement. But we now know, with almost certainty that we're going to sell out of Season Tickets. 

Among those to meet Mr Gold was young Geo Mackie from Inverurie in north east Scotland, who made the 1,100-mile round trip by bus to ensure he secured his 2016/17 Season Ticket.

He told West Ham TV: “It's a fair trek, 24 hours on a bus, 1,100 miles, but it's worth it, isn't it? You can feel the atmosphere while you're here, the excitement levels.

“We've been looking at the virtual footage. We've supported West Ham for a long time, we're grown men but it feels like Christmas.

“This is my first Season Ticket. I've been going since I was four. My Dad took me down two or three times a season. We're not the wealthiest family, but they made sure I could always come down and see West Ham.” 

Joining the Priority List remains your best and only chance of securing a Season Ticket at the new Stadium. Join the List today by clicking here.