In the summer of 2015, West Ham United appointed Slaven Bilic as manager as the club looked to move in a new direction following Sam Allardyce’s conservative brand of football when he was in the Upton Park dugout.
And with Bilic having spent time at the Hammers as a player, his return to east London was one that was warmly welcomed by supporters.
https://twitter.com/_CarltonCole9/status/608238076343812096
@whufc_official Great manager! Hope we do well! COYI!
— Jonjo Heuerman BEM BCyA (@JonjoHeuerman) June 9, 2015
@whufc_official Could be a good appointment. Looking forward to seeing what he does.
— Andy Salmon (@salfordrev) June 9, 2015
@whufc_official Congratulations and welcome back Slaven Bilic! An ex-West Ham player always a popular choice as new manager. #COYI
— Prince1Keith (@Prince1Keith) June 9, 2015
@whufc_official If Slaven manages like he used to play we'll win everything going.
— Sid Bower (@Scorpio6278) June 9, 2015
@whufc_official it's a good appointment for the club, if you read his statistics it's fairly strong with attacking play which we all want
— Jay Ryan (@Ryan4Jay) June 9, 2015
@whufc_official #SlavenIsAHammer! So happy, wanted him all along!
— Louis (@LouisFrench12) 9 June 2015
At first, the hiring of Bilic looked a good move with West Ham not only picking up a tonne of positive results in the Croatian’s debut season but also managing to play some very attractive football along the way.
Summer signing Dimitri Payet, in particular, was at the heart of it while Argentinian attacking midfielder Manuel Lanzini impressed, too, as the Hammers went on to finish seventh and secure Europa League qualification in the process.
However, things went downhill for Bilic and his men the following season with star man Payet leaving the club in January before the club dropped down to 11th in the final Premier League standings.
It was not until the campaign after, though, where things really took a turn for the worse. By November 2017, Bilic was sacked after a string of poor results and performances bringing the former Besiktas manager’s time at the London Stadium to a disappointing end despite all of the promise initially showed.
Ultimately, considering how lacklustre West Ham were in Bilic’s second and final seasons at the club and his eventual sacking, his tenure will largely go down as a failure.
