Ba backs Bilic

Slaven Bilic has been backed to succeed as West Ham manager by former Hammer Demba Ba. Ba believes Bilic would be an ideal manager for the Hammers, having worked under him at Besiktas this season.

Ba said: “He is full of motivation and very close to the players and it helped, especially us in Besiktas.

“We have a young team and he helps a lot. He is a good guy. He would be a good choice.

“He has that German mentality and in football that German mentality helps a lot because they are very disciplined and do things right in football and I think he does that.

“If he comes here I think and I hope he is going to be successful.

“He seems like he is rough and rude on the sidelines but he is actually very soft and calm with the players.

“He would be like a confident. He is very open and someone you can talk to.”

“He gave me that confidence, always telling me I was the best and at the end of the day I scored a lot of goals for him and Besiktas so that’s something I will take away from working with him.”

Demba Ba was speaking at the Human Appeal Celebrity Gala Football dinner at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London on bank holiday Monday.