Wayne Bridge has hailed the "brilliant" Hammers fans for the way they have helped him to settle in at the Boleyn Ground.
The left-back, who has made an immediate impact since arriving in January, was speaking to West Ham TV at a special event to raise money for a Mali project in conjunction with Oxfam. It featured scores of children from Keys Meadow Primary School from Enfield running a mile around the Boleyn Ground pitch.
The aim is to help children and their families in rural communities to improve their literacy skills and have access to clean water.
The idea of running the mile and raising money for the project was chosen by the children themselves, with the overall aim to run collaborative marathons around the pitches and tracks of stadiums and athletic centres across London. Bridge was delighted to get involved, and paid tribute to the youngsters' commitment.
"A mile is a long way for kids," he told West Ham TV. "But they seemed to have a lot of energy. They have got big smiles from meeting me but it is more the other way round to see the smiles you can put on their faces. It is good meeting fans that appreciate you and meeting fans that cheer us on week in, week out.
"The fans have been brilliant ever since I have been here. I noticed they do get behind the team. Even when we were three-nil down against West Brom I was thinking we would go out after half-time and they would have left.
"They were still there cheering us on and they definitely helped us in that second half. It would be nice to give them something to shout about on Saturday."
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