OLAS V Leicester City

One game is all it took for the club and fans it seems to be rejoined as one, Billic appointment had some sections wondering where The owners ambition was, worried about his lack of premiership experience was one excuse often levelled at him by some section of the fans, who it seems ignored his international experience and yet in his 1st premier league game he does more for the feel good factor around the club than his predecessor ever mustered during his tenure.
I know it's early days and 1 game does not make a season but it's an impressive start and surely the club can only grow off the confidence the victory brought about especially considering that with Leicester City and then Bournemouth coming to town I really do expect to see us sitting in top spot with 9 points before we head to Anfield. Now Anfield, that is a place I would love to be this season at the end of August but while I will be only 30 miles away, I'll be preparing for my godfather duties to my beautiful niece the next day, can you imagine the place if we could finally do the Scousers on their own turf for the 1st time in my and many others lifetime, bearing in mind I'm never someone likely to get carried away when it comes to West Ham, which has evolved in me after year upon year of the crash and burn seasons we generally have, I can honestly see us doing the Scousers and imagine that.
I stopped typing the above sentence as I was imagining that victory and the celebrations after, but just to show that the realist in me is still there, I still can't see us finishing above 9th spot but for me every season Is not about the destination, it's about how we get there.
For me finishing 9th is no different to 17th, the outcome is still the same, not relegated. There would be no fitting tribute to the old ground than to win a trophy in its last stand

Seeing Julian back at the club is also great, a couple of years ago I remember seeing him at one of the great EX hammer forums in Romford and during the Q&A session he spoke with great sense in how he saw football should be played, and it seemed to me he was influenced by the great man that signed him ,John Lyall.
Lyall for me was/is the greatest manager we ever had, not just because of the trophies we won, but the fact he was immersed within the club, 1st as a supporter, then player, coach and finally Manager. He had time for anyone and everyone and I still remember when I met him as an 11 year old, I was mascot for the day against Wrexham on the last day of the season 1981, he himself took my mum and I to his office, where we got to chat for what seem ages. The mark of the man came through when I remarked that Clive Thomas was out of order for sending him off at Wembley, he just said that its best left in the past & there was no bad feeling. He then took me to the dressing room where he introduced me to the days team. The fact he relegated the club twice is rightly overlooked and its a shame it did end the way it did but I will never forget that 10 minutes I spent with the man.
In fact when you look at the managers JD played under at West Ham Lyall Macari Bonds and then Redknapp, for me two of the best managers the club have had that I have seen, and my hero as a kid, Bonds. It will be interesting to find out who he says played a bigger part on his career. I think it was Ron Saunders at Birmingham that gave him his chance before he joined us still as a teenager, though his time spent under Lyall was not the best era for the club. Next up Macari, who to be honest, the only player I've ever heard say a good thing about him was Stuart Slater. Bonds quickly followed and remember the 2 of them played together briefly but looking back, it was Bonds that sold him reputedly frustrated by his discipline problems though the deal bore all the hallmarks of Redknapp pulling the strings. Yet he returned a year later, this time under Harry, and if we are honest, the football under Harry was the best we played while Julien was at the club, even achieving 3 top 10 finishes in a row, the only time ever in the clubs history that had been achieved.
It is just great to see him sitting in the dugout and I just hope he can show the players why the fans love him so much and perhaps help them to embrace the club in the same way he did.
I must admit that Billic was my no1 choice, I always thought the Klopp and Benetiz attempts were just the owners setting the bar unrealistically too high, I'm all for ambition but come on, leave Dortmund then join us, big backward step for a manager of the quality of Klopp. As for Benetiz, I liked him, he did well at Liverpool and Chelsea but I never saw him settling for DS buying the players, but I guess we will never know what the outcome would of been.
On the whole, it's great being a West Ham fan at the moment, so long may it continue.