Sam Allardyce led a trio of his West Ham United players to the new store at Westfield Stratford City.

The manager, Kevin Nolan, Carlton Cole and Jack Collison met hundreds of supporters that flocked into the shop from 2pm on Tuesday to mark the official opening of the biggest shopping centre in Europe.

The quartet signed all manner of items purchased in store. Scores of journalists and photographers turned up to see the big launch event, with the Hammers buzz spreading around the state of the art centre.

Big Sam said: “It is great to see everyone turn out for this new store. It is in a good location and it is always nice to meet fans face to face. They gave us their best wishes for the weekend and hopefully we will do them proud.”

With the store now open seven days a week, fans should look out for more great promotions and also a new loyalty card scheme running from today.

Skipper Kevin said: “The store looks really good and it was great to see so many fans here on the first day of its opening. By coming along, they are supporting the club and we are really grateful to them for turning out. We were as happy to meet them as they were to see us.”

I popped down to the store myself and it really was buzzing and very manic! Great to see how much support The Hammers have!