Good to see our manager Sam Allardyce is setting the bar high for our first season back in The Premiership.

Not just content with avoiding relegation which is most promoted clubs ambition, Sam is looking to get The Hammers out of the blocks fast so we don’t have to look over our shoulder at a relegation battle all season.

“My job is to aim as high as we can in the Premier League and not to say fourth from bottom is enough,” said Allardyce.

“Let’s see how far we can get this team at the first time of asking. The real challenge for me is to prepare the team for the best possible start for the first 10 games.

“That will take the pressure off as you’re not in a relegation position every week, which is a constant gnaw at the player’s confidence.

“That’s the way forward if we can achieve it.”

I like to see that we are serious about being a mid-table team and building from there rather than just trying to avoid relegation.

However, I do feel we need quite a bit of strengthening before this is possible with some quality full backs, a centre back, a good holding midfielder, a few tricky wingers and another good front man all needed before we have a solid enough team to carry out Sam’s plan.