Bilic at pains to stress his Tomkins position
The big central defender is set to come up against the Irons for the first time since his £10 million departure on Saturday and the manager made it clear the departure was not his doing.
Speaking ahead of the game he declared: ““I tried to explain the situation with James. I didn’t want him to leave or go but last year he played many, many games for us in different positions and he was very good for our squad.
“But I couldn’t guarantee he would play week in week out and that is the reason he left. He didn’t want to leave because he is West Ham born and bred.
“He wanted guarantees basically and I couldn’t give him that.”