West Ham United are back in the Premiership. In the play-offs, Alan Pardew's Clarets defeated Preston in the final to bridge a two-year gap.
West Ham missed the very first season of the Premiership in 1992-93 but then stayed in the top flight for ten years.
The Londoners have enjoyed a remarkable opening to the campaign and only suffered their second defeat away at Manchester City after seven matches. Among their highlights so far has been the away draw at the Newcastle, the 4-0 drubbing of Aston Villa at Upton Park and the share of the points (0-0) with Arsenal in front of their own fans.
The board are now locked in talks with manager Pardew to extend his two-year stay with the club. Midfielder Hayden Mullins has put pen to paper to a new five-year deal.
Earlier on this month, defenders Danny Gabbidon and James Collins were voted Welsh Footballer of the Year and Wales' Young Player of the Year, respectively. They signed from Cardiff City in the pre-season transfer activities.
Central defender Anton Ferdinand, brother of Manchester United's Rio, is earmarked for stardom, having already played for the U-21s. The captain of this England side, Nigel Reo-Coker, another young ace in Pardew's pack, has shown he can make the grade to full international set-up.
In attack, ex-Nottingham Forest Marlon Harewood - netted the season's first hat-trick in the Premiership against Aston Villa - also has a great future, ably aided by the evergreen Teddy Sheringham.
Pardew was born in Wimbledon on July 18, 1961. He had left other Londoners Reading in October of 2003 and failed to get the backing of the fans. Yet, shrewd Pardew won the supporters to his side when he led the Hammers to promotion last season. His side first defeated Ipswich in the semis and then Preston 1-0 in the final through a Bobby Zamora netting at the Millennium Stadium.
He started his career as a midfielder with non-League side Yeovil Town before he moved to Crystal Palace in 1987. At Selhurst Park he enjoyed a spell of four seasons, scoring the goal that mattered in a nail-biting FA Cup semi-final with Liverpool (4-3) that saw them through to the final in 1990. Palace then lost to Manchester United 0-1 in a replay after a 3-3 draw.
Pardew remained in London as he moved from Crystal Palace to Charlton before he hung up his boots in the lower league with Barnet. It was here that he started his coaching career. He left the Bees to team up with manager Terry Bullivant at Reading, coaching the reserves side.
Caretaker at Reading
In 1998-99 Bullivant had to make way for Tommy Burns but Pardew remained in his role. Yet, two years later Pardew was without a job since Reading decided to scrap the reserves to cut costs.
In September 1999, Burns was shown the back door and the board called on Pardew to take over on a caretaker basis. He left a good impression and in October he took the job permanently.
In his first season as manager he led Reading to 10th placing in the Second Division and in 2000-01 led them to the play-offs final, only to lose to Walsall.
In the campaign that followed Pardew went all the way as the Royals gained promotion to the First Division after finishing runners-up to Brighton. In the second grade of the English game Pardew steered Reading to fourth place and the play-offs once more. They lost in the semi-finals to Wolves.
In 2003-04 Reading started well with great hopes of finally reaching the Premiership. But trouble started when Glenn Roeder was sacked at West Ham and Pardew was soon linked with the vacant job at Upton Park.
Reading wanted to hold on to their man. In the meantime, West Ham called upon Trevor Brooking for the second time, taking over the job on a temporary basis.
Brooking, who had enjoyed tremendous harmony with the fans as a player at Upton Park, again became their hero with positive results the side had gained. Yet, since he was bound to a director's job with the FA he had told the board from the start that he was not to take the job permanently.
After a tug-of-war case, Pardew went into the High Courts and finally West Ham came to a settlement with Reading by paying a high compensation fee. In October 2003, Pardew took over at Upton Park.
He had an arduous task ahead to fill the boots of Brooking. When results went against him the fans let him know and there was a time when he was about to call it quits. But last season's promotion settled down the nerves and the opening to this campaign finally sealed his adherence with the Upton Park faithful.
The squad
Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll 1, Jimmy Walker 23, Shaka Hislop 34, Matthew Reed 41.
Defenders: Tomas Repka 2, Paul Konchesky 3, Danny Gabbidon 4, Anton Ferdinand 5, Christian Dailly 7, Chris Cohen 14, James Collins 19, Elliott Ward 22, Clive Clarke 30.
Midfielders: Matthew Etherington 11, Yossi Benayoun 15, Gavin Williams 16, Hayden Mullins 17, Nigel Reo-Coker 20, Mark Noble 24, Shaun Newton 26.
Forwards: Teddy Sheringham 8, Marlon Harewood 10, Bobby Zamora 25, Hogan Ephraim 29, Tony Stokes 31, Jeremie Aliadiere 39, David Bellion 21.