Alan Curbishley welcomed his players back to Chadwell Heath for the first day of pre-season training on Monday morning, as the preparations for our 2007-08 Barclays Premier League campaign got underway.
Sporting their new Umbro training wear, the Hammers stars began their summer fitness work on the freshly re-laid pitches at our training headquarters, and will spend the next fortnight building up their levels before the opening pre-season friendly, against Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday, July 14.
A few familiar faces were missing as the squad reported back - Lucas Neill is currently away on international duty with Australia, while England under-21 stars Mark Noble, Anton Ferdinand and Nigel Reo-Coker have been handed an extended break after their recent exploits in the UEFA European Championship finals.
However, Curbs and his staff will have been delighted to see Dean Ashton and Matthew Upson back out on the training field as they look to put last season's injury frustrations behind them, while our latest new signing, French international midfielder Julien Faubert, will meet up with his new team-mates later this week...