Bilic may need staff shake-up to keep his job
SLAVEN BILIC is under pressure to make changes to his coaching staff and training regime if he wants to save his job as West Ham manager.
Bilic has one year left on his contract and accepts there is unlikely to be a new deal on offer this summer after a disappointing campaign.
West Ham, winless in five games, have only one home victory since Christmas and co- chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold are not convinced that the 48-year-old Croat is the right man to lead the club in the long term.
Bilic admits he would rather Sullivan and Gold kept quiet but says he is strong enough to cope. ‘I have a good relationship with both of them,’ said Bilic.
Roberto Mancini, the former Manchester City manager, has an eye on the job and West Ham’s board are impressed by the work of David Wagner at Huddersfield, who are pushing for promotion to the Premier League.
Sullivan and Gold do not have a reputation for sacking managers but nor do they sit by if they feel something needs changing. They shook up Avram Grant’s back-backroom team, installing Wally Downes as a defence coach and ousting his assist- ant Zeljko Petrovic after less than four months.
Teddy Sheringham was introduced to coach the strikers in an attempt to encourage more attractive football under Sam Allardyce.
Bilic depends on trusted No 2 Nikola Jurcevic, 50, the relatively inexperienced Edin Terzic, previously in youth coaching at Borussia Dortmund, and 70-year-old fitness coach Miljenko Rak, a former long jumper.
But concerns have been aired that training methods are outdated — Dimitri Payet declared that he had been bored after he joined Marseille in January. Bilic is still well liked but his players have been upset by the loss of some privileges, like matchday parking for families at the London Stadium. Morale has also been hit by a salary gap within the squad. New signings Jose Fonte and Robert Snodgrass are on £60,000 a week — far more than consistent performers Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini.
Winston Reid is set to sign a new deal which will put him close to top earners Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew, who are on over £80,000 a week.
It is certainly true that the owners are unafraid to have their say on a weekly basis. West Ham’s home defeat by Leicester before the international break saw Sullivan apologise to fans on behalf of Bilic and the squad.
The manager says he has no problem with that, but adds that it would be ideal if Sullivan and Gold stayed out of the papers and social media.
‘I talk to them after every game,’ said Bilic. ‘Then I talk during the week about new players or renewing contracts. But I don’t talk to-the chairmen through the papers. They are locals, they are West Ham. They talk to the papers, Twitter, Instagram.
‘I have no problem. There is something in between not liking it and being worried about it and I am not worried.’
On the talk about his future, Bilic said: ‘It doesn’t annoy me. I have another year.’
After three successive Premier League losses, West Ham face third-bottom Hull tomorrow.