Former Premier League star turned pundit Mark Schwarzer has been discussing West Ham United.
West Ham have made a terrible start to the new Premier League season and find themselves in and around the relegation zone a quarter of the way through the campaign.
Just two wins from their first nine games has seen question marks raised over Slaven Bilic’s future with each match seemingly billed as a must win in order for the Croatian to keep his job at the Hammers helm.
The likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez and Roberto Mancini have been linked as potential replacements for Bilic.
And Mark Schwarzer told Sky Sports’ The Debate that the uncertainty over Bilic’s future could put paid to any hopes West Ham might have of bringing in players in January.
“I think particularly when you are looking at players signing for a longer term, so in January if (West Ham) are looking to sign a player (they) are going to think twice about it because of that uncertainty about whether or not the manager is going to be there come the end of the season,” Schwarzer told The Debate.
“As a player I always looked at it that way as well, wherever I signed I always wanted to make sure that the manager believed in me, the manager wanted to play me – or I had a good chance of playing – I didn’t want to go there with a manager where his whole job is on the line and you don’t know whether he’s going to stay there or not, that was never the ideal scenario.
“Sometimes you didn’t have any other options however most of the time you were able to say ‘OK right the manager there is stable he’s got a good rapport with the owner of the club, there’s real consistency there’ and you want to go there and you want to sign because of the club but also because of the manager.”
Schwarzer also said he felt Bilic had done a decent job as West Ham manager and that it was clear the players liked their boss and backed him.
But he makes a salient point given the fact West Ham may well need to enter the winter market out of necessity.
Some supporters would disagree and point to the level of performance as evidence Bilic is not doing as well as he should be with a talented group of players.
The Hammers have gone from the fringes of Champions League qualification to flirting with relegation during Bilic’s tenure and an equally drastic upturn is required if he is to keep his job in East London.
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