As Rangers fans celebrated booking their place in the UEFA Europa League Final, West Ham supporters were left licking their wounds.
The Premier League club crashed out at the semi-final stage as Frankfurt pipped them 3-1 on aggregate, leaving the Londoners’ Sevilla dream dead.
But many of the club’s supporters have proven themselves a credit to the Hammers and East London as plenty rush to assist Rangers supporters desperate to travel to Spain.
Ahead of the showpiece in Sevilla’s Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, plenty of fans of all four semi-finalists would’ve gambled on booking flights and accommodation before the rush.
If your team wins, you’ve got a cost-effective and cheap(er) opportunity to go and see them at the Final.
West Ham fans rally to offer Rangers support a Europa League helping hand
Unfortunately for West Ham, there are many stories of Hammers who tried to beat the rush, or even won tickets in the UEFA public ballot, but will no longer be travelling abroad.
In this situation, it could be easy for supporters to exploit people desperate for tickets to cut their losses but the response from some quarters of the West Ham support has been magnificent.
Not only have plenty actively sought out Rangers fans to offer name changes on flights at no extra expense, but others have set about transferring tickets across at face value.
It’s been wonderfully refreshing to see and the West Ham support deserves huge credit for not only facing up their own defeat with humility but in trying to give struggling Rangers fans a helping hand.
Fans are taking planes, trains and automobiles to get the Europa League Final on May 18th and with little over a week to go the cost of travel and accommodation has skyrocketed.
But with a little help from their friends at West Ham plenty of Rangers fans are now donning their sombreros and are heading for sunny Spain.
Meanwhile, details of a Europa League fan-zone have emerged with some Rangers fans unable to travel to Seville.