West Ham United academy boss Terry Westley has backed Slaven Bilic's unusual decision to watch the Hammers' first Europa League game from the stands at the Boleyn Ground.

West Ham qualified for the Europa League qualification phase by topping the Premier League's fair play table last season, and face Andorran side FC Lusitans in the first leg of first round qualifying on Thursday night.

Bilic has been running a training camp for the Hammers squad in Ireland over the past week, and has stayed back in the Emerald Isle in order to continue working with the members of the squad who would not be featuring in the Europa League tie.

Bilic is expected to fly back and watch the game from the stands, with Westley to be given the managerial duties for the night.

Westley said the small turnaround from last season's Premier League made it hard for the club to schedule pre-season training and prepare for the Europa league tie at the same time.

"You find you're in Europe so someone has to put a plan together," he said.

"We've had to be proactive to put a plan together very quickly as we didn't know whether we would be in Europe until after the last game.

"We knew what the group would consist of. It was to make a smooth transition for when the manager was put in place."