Slaven Bilic is well on his way to becoming West Ham United’s best manager for a quarter of a century according to a key statistic.
The Hammers endured a torrid start to the Croatian’s second season in charge of the East London club.
It is a far cry from last season’s record-breaking farewell to the club’s Boleyn Ground home of 112 years which saw Bilic’s side record their best ever Premier League points total and first positive goal difference since the club came so close to winning the title in 1986 as they finished just four points off the Champions League places.
West Ham struggled badly in the first half of the season, going out of the Europa League, EFL Cup and FA Cup and stuck near the bottom of the table lacking any kind of form or consistency.
Results have picked up drastically of late, though, with six wins from the last nine league games coinciding with the Dimitri Payet situation and eventual exit before the January transfer window slammed shut.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
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Despite now sitting comfortably in ninth place, Bilic’s future has been the subject of intense media speculation in recent weeks with former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini being tipped to replace him, as reported by the likes of The Times.
Bilic himself told the press he is struggling to understand why his job would be under threat.
And a new statistic has also made the speculation look laughable after it emerged the former Besiktas manager is well on his way to becoming the club’s best manager for a quarter of a century.
Bilic was brought to West Ham as a player by former boss Harry Redknapp
That’s because Bilic is now the fastest West Ham manager to reach 25 wins since in the inauguration of the Premier League in 1992.
Since 1992 West Ham have had 10 managers including Billy Bonds, Harry Redknapp, Glenn Roeder, Trevor Brooking (in a caretaker role), Alan Pardew, Alan Curbishley, Gianfranco Zola, Avram Grant, Sam Allardyce and Bilic.
While Bonds, Roeder, Pardew and Allardyce had short spells outside the top flight while in charge none matched Bilic’s fantastic success rate which has seen him reach 25 wins in just 62 Premier League games, drawing 18 and losing 19.
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It makes Bilic the fastest Hammers manager to reach the milestone and he has done so with a 40% win percentage.
Trevor Brooking’s time in caretaker charge sees him hold a maximum 100% winning record during his short spell which ended in relegation on a record 42 points.
But if, as we are constantly being told, football is ‘all about winning’ then this surely makes Bilic one of if not the best West Ham manager in 25 years.
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