Common description of Slaven Bilic suggests this was his biggest mistake at West Ham

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When Slaven Bilic was sacked as West Ham United manager last week he reportedly called members of the first team squad to ask where he went wrong.

West Ham sacked Bilic last week and replaced him with David Moyes.

According to The Mirror, the Croatian personally telephoned West Ham players to ask them where he had gone wrong.

The report claimed the players didn’t hold back and told Bilic he had not been tough enough on his squad.

A key issue was that the 49-year-old former West Ham defender allowed poor time-keeping to go unpunished.

The Mirror also claims that when players reported late for training sessions, Bilic failed to make an issue of it and, at times, even allowed them escape clearly justified club fines.

Supporters are all too aware of the lack of professionalism and have been suffering as a result of it creeping into their matchday performances with just two wins from 11 games so far this season.

Despite the poor form many West Ham fans and neutrals were sad to see the affable Bilic go, particularly after he led the club to their best ever Premier League points total and first positive goal difference in the top flight since 1986 two seasons ago.

But is the big clue as to where it all went wrong for Bilic in the way he is often described by players, pundits and journalists.

In interviews Bilic has consistently been referred to as a “great man”, a “great person” or “lovely guy” but never a great manager.

Just this week Hammers ‘keeper Joe Hart spoke about Bilic’s exit and it was there again for all to see.

“That’s football. Slaven is a great man,” was Joe Hart’s analysis of the situation and perhaps that compliment told us everything we need to know about where it went wrong with accusations that Bilic was more interested in being friends with everyone rather than laying down the law.

A crude illustration is a simple Google search with the term ‘Slaven Bilic great man’ throwing up around 2.3million results. Searching ‘Slaven Bilic great manager’ throws up less than half that.

It has followed him from his time as a player to his spell as Croatia boss through to Besiktas and now West Ham, Slaven seemed almost universally liked even from the opposing dugout.

After surrendering a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to the Hammers in the Carabao Cup recently Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino was furious but could not hold back a smile and a joke when he was greeted by Bilic at the final whistle.

But being likeable isn’t always the currency for respect in football.

Ironically their under performance in Bilic’s alleged holiday camp regime has resulted in quite the opposite under new man Moyes.

The Scotsman has already made it clear he will be cracking the whip and there will be no half measures. Whether West Ham’s players respond only time will tell, starting at Watford this weekend.