ContinueFor the fourth Saturday running I found myself heading to the East End of London on a Saturday afternoon but this time, for the first time in four weeks, I was not making my way to the magnificent Olympic Park in Stratford but to another "Park," Upton Park, the celebrated home of West Ham United, three miles away from the Olympic Stadium where, six days' earlier, the flame had been extinguished in the Closing Ceremony of the London Games.
The Olympic spirit seems to have pervaded through the East End air, however, especially when Olympians, headed by gold medal-winning female boxer Nicola Adams and silver medallist rower (and Hammers fan) Mark Hunter were presented to an appreciative crowd during half-time.
There may have been some remarkable scorelines elsewhere on Saturday - and Swansea's five goal thrashing of QPR at Loftus Road and Fulham's similar thumping of Norwich at the Cottage come to mind - but Big Sam Allardyce was delighted with his side's deserved 1-0 win over Aston Villa.
For any newly-promoted team a good start is imperative and this is precisely what West Ham achieved and, with a predicted three new signings still to be made before the month is over these look likely to be happy times again down in the East End of London.
Perhaps the biggest news concerning the Hammers is still to come. They are favourites to obtain the right to play their football in the Olympic Stadium. There were will be many who will mourn the loss of Upton Park, but times are changing and the old stadium is, in comparison to the new stadia that have cropped up - think Emirates, think Etihad - looking just that - old.
The one thing West Ham must do, if they are to play at the venue where the likes of Mo Farah and Jess Ennis made sporting history, is ensure that the Bobby Moore and Sir Trevor Brooking Stands, or at least ends, remain. The club must look forward but, in doing so, not forget to look back too.
