When a manager leaves a Premier League club, the bookmakers are always quick to price up some odds on who his replacement will be. Indeed, they got ahead of themselves by offering prices on the next Newcastle boss, although a day later they were able to get cracking on the West Ham gig instead. The man who was top of their list?
Why it’s none other than Slaven Bilic, which makes sense on two counts. Firstly, he used to play for West Ham and secondly, he’s done well as manager of Croatia, including two victories against England and a place in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals. Have the Daily Mail just looked at the odds and made the below up, or do you think he’ll be the man to replace Alan Curbishley?
Slaven Bilic will be approached to take over at West Ham following Alan Curbishley’s dramatic resignation.
Former Hammers central defender Bilic, now preparing Croatia for World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and England, is the overwhelming choice of chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and chief executive Scott Duxbury.
It sounds as though the manager is keen to become the Hammers gaffer at some stage:
Bilic, 39, said: ‘I always said that, if I come back to English football, I want it to be as manager of West Ham, but I have a contract with Croatia until 2010 and intend to honour it.’
Obviously, West Ham can’t hang around for two years to bring Bilic in, but given he earns a relatively low salary for managing his national team, can he be prised away from his current job and installed as the new man in the hotseat? Do supporters want him?