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There might be something of a marriage of convenience about West Ham United and manager Sam Allardyce, but it all seemed pretty blissful at the final whistle of the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Saturday.

The sun broke through the clouds, thousands of bubbles floated lazily across the ground and everyone connected with the club were united in celebration of the club's immediate return to the Premier League.

The players hastily put on T-shirts proclaiming "nothing beats being back" - and nobody wearing claret and blue inside Wembley was arguing.

Perhaps more than anything else, West Ham's 2-1 victory over Blackpool brought with it a sense of relief.

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