Bilic’s swansong West Ham owners will act if team lose again
Owners will act if club lose again to Swansea Academy chief Westley in frame to take over
West Ham United are considering a short-term appointment to replace Slaven Bilic until the end of the season should the club lose to Swansea City on Saturday, in what would be the struggling manager’s sixth straight defeat in the Premier League.
The club’s co-owner, David Sullivan, and Karren Brady, the chief executive, have shown faith in Bilic so far but results are reaching the stage at which West Ham feel that they would have no choice but to try to jump-start the club’s season by clearing out the manager and his staff. They are limited in their scope to appoint a new face with so few games left but defeat at home by Swansea would force their hand.
Every other club currently in the bottom six, with the exception of Sunderland, have changed their manager since the start of the season. The bounce given to Leicester City by the sacking of Claudio Ranieri and appointment of his assistant, Craig Shakespeare, has not gone unnoticed at West Ham. One point outside the relegation zone when he took over, Leicester are now 11th after a run of five consecutive wins.
West Ham are not minded to give the job to any of Bilic’s backroom staff, including the former club captain Julian Dicks, with the feeling that a complete change would be necessary to make any difference. Sullivan has the option of turning to academy director Terry Westley, who was in charge for the first game of last season, the home leg of a Europa League qualifier that Bilic was unable to attend because of a family holiday.
The club would not be subject to onerous compensation payments were they to sack Bilic after the weekend, and it is understood they would not be obliged to pay anything at all were they to dismiss the 48-year-old in the summer with a year of his contract left. West Ham are five points ahead of Swansea in 18th and, after that home game, they are away at Sunderland, the league’s bottom team, which might present an opportunity to a new manager to start with a win.
Bilic suggested in his press conference yesterday that West Ham’s new London Stadium had not helped the team this season. He said that the club were paying for the move in the short term, with the long-term benefits still yet to be felt. “The move always had a lot of positives but it also had negative things, especially short term. One of those negative things is the time – you need time to adjust. That goes with a new stadium. The stadium I’ve said it, 100 times, in the long term it is the best thing that the club has ever done. Make no mistake about it.
“First you have to dip a little bit, to go down like Southampton did at their new stadium. Like Arsenal struggled in the first year. But the Olympic Stadium for West Ham is unbelievable. It’s great.”
Bilic was forced to substitute Michail Antonio at half-time in the defeat by Arsenal on Wednesday, a consequence of a sickness the player developed during the day of the match. Bilic will be without the injured midfielder Pedro Obiang until the end of the season. The centre-back Winston Reid is also still out of action with injury.
In the long term, West Ham have looked at the Huddersfield Town manager, David Wagner, as a possible long-term target in the summer should they make a change. Bilic said he was convinced West Ham would stay up. “Is it going to be written in the history books as a great season? It ain’t,” Bilic said. “It’s going to be OK or negative. But I’ve seen bigger clubs being in trouble. It happens. And then they celebrate like hell if they stay up.”
The new contract that was expected for Bilic has been put on ice until the end of the season and, even if he survives that long, there will be a major decision come the summer. Under scrutiny are the club’s signings last summer, with Jonathan Calleri and Sofiane Feghouli both on the bench. Álvaro Arbeloa has not played since Dec 3. Robert Snodgrass, who arrived in January, was introduced as a second-half substitute.
Bilic said: “The pressure is big already and I have a strong belief in my team. I know we can do it and we have to put everything we have on the line.”