Fans have a big name boss with a clear vision

SLAVEN Bilic was as competitive and intimidating as they come as a full-blooded and fiery centre-back.

And the 50-year-old has also developed a reputation as a menacing manager. The very last person you would want to cross.

Yet, at his Hawthorns unveiling on Monday, Bilic was the antithesis of noise and bluster. Calm, quiet and composed, there were times when the Croatian was barely audible. Yet you always knew he was in the room.

The former West Ham manager has an understated, yet steely, demeanour. Cross him at your peril.

Technical director Luke Dowling says Bilic has “a wonderful aura about him”. And in one meeting with the towering boss, you knew exactly what he meant.

“I left the meeting knowing this is the man I wanted,” Dowling said of his first face-to-face encounter with Bilic. “What we got from Slaven Bilic was just how much he wanted it. He didn’t need a Championship job, but his passion was there for all to see.”

For Bilic, this is a first managerial assignment outside a top division. You could say his appointment is something of a coup for the Baggies.

But this is not a head coach with an ego. The former

Besiktas boss arrived to the club’s training ground in Walsall, not in a chaffeurdriven luxury car, but a bog-standard taxi cab.

His arrival should reassure fans that, regardless of his impressive CV, Bilic is no “Billy Big Time”. He’s not someone who will laud his experience and knowledge and act like he’s above it all.

Bilic has, from day one, said all the right things. When confirmed as the club’s successor to Darren Moore, he spoke of the job as having been on his “bucket list” of things to do. An observation he reiterated on Monday.