Former West Ham midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker has backed West Ham to achieve their ambition of European football in the future, suggesting that it is the ‘next chapter’ for the club.
The Hammers are currently 10th in the Premier League, but lie just two points behind Watford in seventh, and are pushing for a spot in the Europa League for the first time since a brief foray into the competition in 2016.
Speaking to the Hammers’ official club website, Reo-Coker said: “Upton Park is never going to be forgotten. It was a special place for the fans and the players lucky enough to perform in that environment.
“Moving forward though, to what the club wants to be and deserves to be, London Stadium should be hosting Champions League games. As much as it was tough moving homes, this is the next chapter in the life of this great club.”
OPINION
West Ham look like they’re on the brink of something special. They have a huge new stadium that they finally appear to be settling into, a new manager who is preaching a positive and fluent form of attacking football, a glut of new signings that have genuinely improved the side, and a host of young stars breaking through the ranks looking to stake a claim. They are a club on the up, and they would be fully deserving of European football if they were to get it. Breaking into the top six won’t be easy, and it won’t happen this season, but they are laying the foundations to have a real crack at it in the next five years or so. These things take time, and the fans will need to be patient, but if they can see that progress is being made and that the club is at least trying to better itself, they will be satisfied.
