Slaven, Sad To Say Goodbye
Croatian-born Slaven Bilic, now ex-manager of West Ham, began his career in 2001 while working at Hajduk in Split. Bilic then went on to play for both West Ham and Everton in the Premier League, but has sadly ended his career as West Ham manager in 2017.
This two year reign over the club has seen West Ham place seventh in his first season with the club, back in 2015.
But this season, the team has so far only won two Premier League matches. Their most recent defeat was Saturday’s 4–1 match against Liverpool at the London Stadium, which turned out to be Bilic’s last game as West Ham manager.
West Ham are rumoured to want David Moyes as manager in hope he will guide them to more wins, taking the team further up the table, as well as regaining some more hope and determination, especially after dropping to 18th in the Premier League.
Moyes is known for his success at Preston but then narrowly missed out on the 2001 Championship against Bolton Wanderers. Moyes then became Everton Manager in 2002 and led them to 15th place in his first season.
After a long and successful career at Everton, he was then appointed manager of Man Utd in 2014 as Sir Alec Ferguson’s successor, but this move ended in the same season.
After a spell in France, Moyes returned to England in 2016, taking over at Sunderland before resigning in May 2017.
Mitch Lown from Winchester, who is an avid supporter of West Ham told Breaking Views: “I’m sad to see Bilic go but I think the managers need to be given more of a chance in general. It’s a tough one. Manager’s tactics or player’s performance? Where does the blame lie?”
There has been a huge response on Twitter. West Ham fan Barry Cox said: “You should’ve walked on 1st Sept when the people above you Failed to back you. They’ve allowed you to take all this s***.”
https://twitter.com/Baz1980WHU/status/926900421570060289
Others haven’t been as infuriated and angry, as Jeremy Nicholas said: “Slaven Bilic is a good man and I’m sad to see him inevitably go. Moyes is not the answer though”. https://twitter.com/Jeremy_Nicholas/status/927507151010058240
Bilic led West Ham to some great and surprising wins, especially in September 2015 with three consecutive victories against Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool — their first at Anfield since 1963.
West Ham finished the 2016 season on a high note, finishing seventh which secured them a place in the Europa League. This same year, the team sadly waved goodbye to the Boleyn Ground as it was sold for housing. The team has since relocated to the former Olympic stadium, now renamed the London Stadium.
However, Bilic couldn’t maintain this strong lead at their new ground and suffered a defeat to Southampton of 3–0 at home. As if this wasn’t bad enough for the team, they were then beaten in the Europa League play-off 1–0 by Romanian side Astra Giurgiu.
After West Ham lost their first three games in September 2017, the team rallied with a 2–0 win at Huddersfield. But the revival was not to be.
West Ham fans had high hopes of guaranteeing European football at their new home. Instead, they will be hoping the new manager will give them Premier League survival.
