Gold and Sullivan plead for fans to show class

West Ham’s fans have been told to show their class during tonight’s match against Sheffield United.

Co chairmen David Gold and David Sullivan have made a statement on the expected code of behaviour tonight

The statement said:  “We would like to welcome the players, staff, fans and directors of Sheffield United to East London for a game that we know has generated a great deal of interest among supporters of both sides.

“We are all too aware of the background to the fixture, with it being the first time these two great Clubs have played one another since the so called ‘Tevez affair’.

“We know it is a game the two sets of fans will want to win and both managers will be picking teams they think are capable of seeing their team progress to the next round.

“So it is likely to be a fixture played with plenty of passion and commitment and hopefully we will have a great Cup tie on our hands.

“As Chairmen of the Club we would ask that those passions are channeled in the right way and we show our class as a Club.

“As far as we are concerned, the whole unsavoury episode is in the past as it involved different managers and different players and in our case, different Chairmen.

So please make sure once again you demonstrate what being a West Ham fan is all about – by giving your all to support the team as we prepare for what will hopefully be another successful Cup run.”