Wednesday 1 July 2015 14:19, UK
Academy manager Terry Westley will be in charge when West Ham make their Europa League debut against Andorran side FC Lusitans on Thursday.
New Hammers boss Slaven Bilic will watch from the stands with 55-year-old Westley entrusted with attempting to build a big lead to take back to Andorra later this month.
Bilic is still in Ireland with the rest of the West Ham squad, overseeing a training camp with some of the club's first-team players who will not be involved in their midsummer return to action.
Westley has already named his team, which includes a handful of first-teamers including James Tomkins, Morgan Amalfitano, Matt Jarvis and last season's leading scorer Diafra Sakho.
Bilic will return to London in time for the match but Westley will be in the dugout at a sold-out Upton Park, and he says it is a plan that has been in the works for some time.
He said: "When there was a change in management at the end of last season and we knew that we had qualified for Europe, we couldn’t just sit back and not do anything. We had to put plans in place.
"With the other senior staff, we’ve done that, looking towards the European fixture so early, and great credit to those staff. It will be a privilege and an honour to play a role on Thursday and when you think the game will be a sell-out, it shows that it has caught the imagination of everyone.
"I see my role as helping Slaven integrate with the group and the team, making that transition as smooth as possible and he will come back for the game on Thursday. He’s the manager.
"He’s very interested in seeing some of the younger players and he’s also got some senior players in this team, who will be part of his squad that he’ll want to keep a close eye on. He will be with the team and in the dressing room and a big part of what we’re trying to do on Thursday.
"We’re doing all we can to support him and our job is to get over the first qualifying round. With the manager integrating his staff and senior players, who are in Ireland, that’s a win-win.”
