Hurst’s Portman Road bow will see Blues take on West Ham

Paul Hurst is introduced to the media at Portman Road, Ipswich, on 12 June 2018. Picture: Steve Waller www.stephenwaller.com (Image: © Copyright Stephen Waller)

The Blues have announced a friendly against the Premier League side on Saturday, July 28, with the game kicking-off at 3pm.

The two sides last met in 2014 in a pre-season clash which ended 0-0 and they will now go head-to-head again as a part of a pre-season schedule which also includes games against Barnet, Braintree, Crawley and MK Dons for the Blues.

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All stands will be open for the game, apart from the upper tiers of both the Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Alf Ramsey stands, while West Ham fans will be allocated the entire upper tier of the Cobbold Stand.

Hurst, was was unveiled this morning, says he has spoken to owner Marcus Evans about the pre-season schedule, which was in place prior to his arrival.

“I’m speaking to the owner about that,” he said. “We’ll see how that goes. The pre-season games are there already. I’ve got my thoughts on those which he’s aware of. But we’ve got a lot of work before we even think about that.

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“Pre-season will be tough – that’s all I’ll say to them. Players do look after themselves in the off-season these days, but I have worked with players from Championship level or higher who tell me they have done a really tough pre-season, come into my squad and are nowhere near the levels that we expect.

“That’s why, in an ideal world, as well as bonding the squad and building the team spirit, we would like to get something sorted as soon as we can. But I do appreciate that might take time.”

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