Over the past couple of months, a man who has come under increasing pressure is West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic.
A quick search on social media will tell you that the former Besiktas manager is a divisive figure, with the fans being split at almost a 50-50 level over what should happen with him in the summer.
I am of the opinion, that it doesn’t matter if West Ham sack Slaven Bilic, or keep him, because there are some fundamental problems with the football club that make it near impossible for any manager to function.
Bilic has his flaws, but any manager West Ham are realistically able to get will also have flaws, just vastly different ones.
Bilic has made some bizarre tactical decisions this year, but in honesty, he has been forced into them because he has been given a terrible squad to work with. Even outside of the Dimitri Payet transfer, West Ham’s recruitment in the summer was an embarrassment, and you could make a good argument that the Hammers are about where they should be in the table based on squad quality.
The first problem with West Ham as a club, is that their board members are taking up roles that they simply shouldn’t be allowed to be in. After a recent defeat, David Gold came out and apologised to the supporters for the performance. Gold may have had good intentions with this simple act, but it is not his place to apologise on behalf of the manager.
One thing Slaven Bilic cannot be accused of is not caring as he knows what it means to play for, and to be a part of West Ham United. What looked like a simple act of kindness from David Gold was actually an act that completely undermined Slaven Bilic’s authority at the football club.
For Gold, such antics have become worryingly routine and it is incredible that more people are not calling him out for it. David Gold is clearly a smart man, but he is far too involved with the matchday side of the football club, and this makes the job highly unattractive for most managers.
Another problem is West Ham’s bizarre transfer set-up, which has completely hindered the club for a long time. They currently have a three-man transfer committee of Slaven Bilic, Tony Henry and David Sullivan, and all three men have to sign off on a transfer for it to go through.
With all due respect to Sullivan, there is no way he should be on such a committee as he isn’t a football man, he is a businessman. There is nothing wrong with an owner taking a large interest in the club, but having someone without a football background sign off on transfers is just wrong and potentially dangerous.
Some may argue that Sullivan just wants to make sure that anything coming into the football club is of sufficient quality, but it isn’t his place to judge transfers in this way. His job is to set the budget, but beyond that, he has to trust Bilic and Henry to use the money well, and build a good squad. The only time it would be acceptable for Sullivan to veto a transfer, is if Bilic wanted to bring in someone with an unsavoury past, but this hasn’t been the case at West Ham.
Slaven Bilic is one of the better managers in the Premier League, so the lack of trust in him is simply alarming at this point. Bilic has experience of managing all across the continent and this makes him well connected. If Slaven Bilic wants a player who can be bought for a sensible amount, then it shouldn’t matter what David Sullivan thinks, as football matters should be left to managers, and potentially a Director of Football.
Most managers who would be an improvement on Bilic would never want to work in such a strange transfer system, as someone with the experience of Roberto Mancini or Mark Hughes would not want an entrepreneur giving his opinion on footballing matters.
Roberto Mancini is one of the desired candidates for a lot of West Ham fans, but it is puzzling to see why he would take this job. The size of the club and the London Stadium, in combination with a terrific fanbase make the job an attractive one, but a man like Roberto Mancini isn’t someone who would take orders off someone he felt to be inferior to him.
While he was manager of Manchester City, Roberto Mancini had a public spat with Director of Football Brian Marwood, who failed to land Daniele De Rossi and Robin van Persie in the summer of 2012. The end result was that Marwood was moved to a different role, but it was clear that Mancini had little time for him as he gave Mancini players he felt were not good enough to help Manchester City challenge in Europe.
However, at least Marwood was a man with a footballing background and someone who knew how to navigate the increasingly brutal European transfer market. In comparison, David Sullivan is completely out of his depth in terms of transfers, and to put it simply, he should be running the football club like a business, which is something he is very good at.
It wouldn’t make sense for Roberto Mancini to take the West Ham job, because the current conditions are similar to, yet worse, than the conditions that caused him to lose control at Manchester City. Mancini would want full control, and West Ham’s current structure wouldn’t allow him this.
Many West Ham fans have good reason for wanting Slaven Bilic out, some of his tactical decisions have been strange this season, and the defending has been awful, especially from set pieces. But, he isn’t being helped by a football club that seems to be being run in a terribly unprofessional and unusual manner.
West Ham’s summer was a complete and utter disaster, as they ended up missing out on the big money targets, and resorted to signing a bunch of mediocre players for small fees. West Ham have spent £70 million on transfers over the last nine months, and the only real successes have been youngster Edmilson Fernandes, and potentially Andre Ayew. They spent a combined £17 million on Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte, which shows that the people at the top of West Ham United are completely clueless, and they need to overhaul their entire transfer system.
Some may want to place blame on Bilic for these signings, but the reality is that he was completely desperate, as he chased players such as Michy Bathuayi, Carlos Bacca and Benjamin Mendy in the summer, and ended up with Simone Zaza, Arthur Masuaku and Jonathan Calleri.
I am not here to villify those who want Bilic out, but I truly do not know what people expect him to do in such a poorly structured work environment. He has most probably had good signings denied by David Sullivan, and he has certainly been undermined by the ridiculous twitter antics of David Gold, and other figures on social media.
As of now, West Ham United are giving everybody a crash course in how NOT to run a football club in 2017, and Slaven Bilic may become the victim of what has become a shambles of an operation. His sacking wouldn’t be a disgraceful one, but sacking him alone will not fix West Ham United, they need to look closer to home if they want to compete in an increasingly competitive Premier League.
