It has now been two weeks since Sky Bet Championship side West Bromwich Albion unveiled former West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic as their new Head Coach.
The Croat will take over from Jimmy Shan who led the Baggies to the play-off semi-finals after the harsh sacking of Darren Moore earlier in the year and it’s his first posting in English football since receiving his marching orders at London Stadium in November 2017.
The fact that Bilic’s only job since then came in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Ittihad Jeddah perhaps suggests that as he enters his 50s, his powers as a gaffer are ailing.
When you look at his final season with the Hammers, when he was replaced by David Moyes just 11 matches in with his team in the Premier League relegation zone, there’s further evidence to support this claim.
Perhaps the reason why many members of the Claret & Blue Army were so pleased to see Bilic take up the reins at the Hawthorns was because they no longer see him as a danger managing other sides in their country.
However, the threat from the 50-year-old and his talented West Brom outfit is something that West Ham can’t ignore and must be extra wary of in the future.
One can only assume that the experienced and successful ex-Croatia national team manager is going to be able to improve the Midlands side in the summer transfer window.
As it stands, without any kind of improvement in their ranks, they’ve proved that they’re good enough to challenge for promotion back to the top flight following their 2017/2018 relegation.
So they will be much fancied to go one better and secure automatic promotion or reach and win the play-off final under the stewardship of Bilic next campaign.
And Irons fans know all too well what the former club player is capable of during his first term in a new job having guided their team to European football and their highest ever Premier League points tally in 2015/2016.
If the former Besiktas boss is able to lead the Baggies back to the big time, he knows the best league in the world inside-out having managed and played in it.
He is also familiar with how to turn a traditional mid-table/bottom-half club into top-six contenders and who would back against him displaying his ability to do that in the West Midlands?
This would mean that West Brom could potentially stand in the way of Manuel Pellegrini’s Hammers breaking into Europe in a season or two and as aforementioned, the Chilean and his staff can’t then underestimate the old face of Bilic and his rejuvenated West Brom.
