When West Ham United appointed Slaven Bilic as Sam Allardyce’s successor he was one of three managers in the running.
West Ham’s co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold wanted a manager who was committed to a more attractive playing style.
To that end the job was between then Sevilla boss Unai Emery, Marseille’s Marcelo Bielsa and Bilic.
Emery ended up staying at Sevilla before being recruited by mega rich Paris St Germain a year later.
But former Argentina and Chile coach Bielsa was a serious contender to take the Hammers helm.
The 59-year-old had plenty of experience on his side and his style of football would have undoubtedly excited West Ham’s fans as he is something of a footballing eccentric who is famous for deploying a 3-3-3-1 formation with an aggressive pressing style.
His stats were impressive too and at the time he boasted a winning ratio of just under 50%.
Known as a strict disciplinarian, his preference for all out attack endeared him to Marseille fans, but he was also criticised at times for being too inflexible and naive.
Bielsa walked out on Marseille and was appointed manager of Lazio while West Ham went with a former player in the shape of Bilic.
He walked out on the Rome club after just two days, though, insisting the club were not doing enough to bring in new players.
After almost a year out of the game Bielsa was back in France at Lille when he was appointed as boss back in May.
But just a month into the new season he has caused a stir once again with an astonishing rant at reporters during a press conference.
Lille are fourth from bottom in Ligue 1 with just one win from their opening six games.
And when Bielsa was questioned about his stomach to roll up his sleeves and fight, he launched a tirade against the French media, singling out reporters and even suggesting some of them were not worthy of confronting him, as reported by Get France Football News.
So it seems like sensible Slaven was the wise choice all along.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
