Slaven Bilic was furious that West Ham United lost their 'most important match of this year' after being dumped out of the Europa League by Astra Giurgiu for a second season running.
Bilic's side were knocked out over two legs of the final qualifying match by a team 11th in the Romanian league whose manager, Marius Sumudica, has been unable to prepare his team for two months due to a betting ban and whose owner, Ioan Niculae, is in prison for illegally financing a presidential campaign.
Giurgiu shocked West Ham at this stage last season, drawing at Upton Park and beating them in Romania, and Bilic was determined to avenge that to deliver European football to their new stadium.