This guy raised the Irons bar to new levels

Maybe a new category called ‘Image Maker of the Year’ should have been added to the Hammers awards last night.

And had it been done so then it would undoubtedly have meant that Dimi Payet would have collected six awards rather than five.

Obviously manager Slaven Bilic has been the most influential figure at Upton Park during this amazing season but given this was a players’ night Payet would have surely collected my suggested trophy.

For this will have been a nine of ten month campaign which has impacted far beyond the confines of the East London support base and has raised our image 100% across the nation.

The simple truth is that West Ham is now has become one of the most talked about clubs in the land and that by and large is down to Payet

His signing has taken this club to a different level – he has raised the bar to such an extent that we have become unrecognisable from the team that finished last season and those preceding it over the past 10 years or so.

Talk to anyone about the Irons outside of our own fans and the first name mentioned is his. We are no longer anonymous and discussed patronisingly as a club that may ‘one day’ get somewhere.

Fortune has not been hiding… our dreams are not fading and dying and for that we can thank Dimi and of course the brilliant manager Slaven Bilic.

The rest of the lads have been sensational during a stupendous season – now let’s just complete the job and qualify for Europe.

Thanks gaffer… thanks Dimi… thanks guys and thanks Davids!