West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has come under fire for his conduct.
Bilic is a man under pressure and speculation has been rife he could face the sack if West Ham’s fortunes don’t improve markedly.
That comes after a dreadful start to the season saw the club lose their first three matches.
But the East Londoners have recovered of late, beating Huddersfield 2-0 and drawing 0-0 at West Bromwich Albion last time out.
The match was woefully short on quality with some of the most notable action coming on the sidelines between Bilic and Tony Pulis.
And one particular flash point saw Bilic vent his fury at the officials and Pulis demanding Baggies goalkeeper Ben Foster be sent off for a foul on Javier Hernandez.
Bilic’s reaction has been criticised by journalist Oliver Holt, chief sports writer for the Mail on Sunday, who said it left a bad taste in the mouth and accused the manager of having form.
“Bilic waving imaginary cards around,” Holt said on Twitter.
“Memories of him getting Blanc banned from 98 World Cup Final.
“Old habits die hard.”
Zinedine Zidane comforts Blanc after he was sent off following Bilic incident in 1998
The incident Holt refers to came in the 1998 World Cup semi-final between France and Croatia when Bilic – then a player – infamously went down clutching his face in the penalty box after being struck in the chest by Laurent Blanc.
It earned the Frenchman a red card and a suspension for the final and cost Bilic a lot of friends and respect in the game.
In fairness to Bilic the Hammers boss has since admitted the referee made the right decision to only issue Foster with a yellow card, as reported by the Evening Standard.
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