West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic has been under tremendous pressure lately.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
Garth Crooks has told BBC Sport that Slaven Bilic has done a brilliant job at West Ham this season given the circumstances he has had to deal with, and has insisted that the Croatian has done enough to earn another campaign in charge.
Bilic has been under a significant amount of pressure this season due to the Hammers’ struggles in the Premier League, with the likes of Rafa Benitez (via The Sun) and Jaap Stam (via The Sun) being touted as potential replacements at the London Stadium.
And while some would have expected Saturday’s defeat to relegation-threatened Hull to further damage his chances of keeping his job, the Irons board issued a statement confirming that Bilic maintains their support (via BBC Sport).
And Crooks has insisted that Bilic has not got the credit he deserves given what he has had to cope with this season.
“I am delighted that the club have finally released a statement supporting their manager and removing any speculation concerning Slaven Bilic’s immediate future at the club,” he told BBC Sport.
“Bilic has handled the difficult transition of moving to a new stadium brilliantly. He rid the club of the poisonous Dimitri Payet and almost certainly guaranteed the club another season in the best league in the world. I should think West Ham did have 100% in faith in Slavan Bilic. Now all they have to do is show it.”
Dimitri Payet
While with eight games to go, the Hammers are certainly not safe from relegation with just six points separating them from the bottom three, they have Swansea and Sunderland ahead in their next three fixtures so have the ideal opportunity to put any relegation fears to bed.
And given that he has had to cope with working with a squad that missed out on marquee additions during the summer and had to cope with losing their former best player in January – though the final weeks of Payet’s West Ham spell were extremely disappointing – keeping the Hammers in the top flight this term will arguably be a better outcome than it would initially appear.
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