West Ham fans have the last laugh again as record breaking support ranks club behind only Manchester United

West Ham United fans continue to make a mockery of ill-informed predictions from rival fans after another record summer at the London Stadium.

West Ham confirmed over the weekend the club has once again sold out of season tickets (whufc.com).

This time all 54,000 available season tickets of the current 60,000 capacity have been snapped up over two weeks before the deadline.

It is the fourth season in a row West Ham have sold out their season ticket allocation.

It means the Hammers have the second most season ticket holders in England behind only the mighty Manchester United.

Many rival fans predicted West Ham would struggle to fill the London Stadium. But even the turbulent first couple of seasons in Stratford – where more column inches were written about the stadium than the team – has failed to discourage supporters.

Indeed West Ham fans are redefining the word loyal.

Despite entering their 40th year without a major trophy Hammers fans continue to follow the club in huge numbers through thick and thin.

On Saturday the Hammers took 4,500 fans to Fulham for a meaningless pre-season friendly.

West Ham’s season ticket figures mean between 2-3,000 tickets remain available for general sale for every home fixture with the other 3-4,000 for away fans.

West Ham are hoping to get permission to increase the London Stadium capacity too.

First they want to secure a rise to 62,500 and then eventually 66,000.

At 66,000 the London Stadium would boast the second biggest capacity of any club football home ground in the UK.

“It has always been West Ham United’s intention to look to increase the ground capacity further and the club has now begun the next step of that process which is to explore the possibility of planning approval to increase to 62,500,” co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold said in a joint statement on the club’s official website.