DarijoSrna

One of Slaven Bilic’s oldest friends reckons the West Ham boss will one day go onto manage “one of the great clubs in world football.”

33 year old Darijo Srna is captain of Shakhtar Donetsk and has known Bilic – who is working wonders with West Ham this season – since he was 10 years old.

He has been coached by the boss at Hajduk Split and for Croatia and says that Bilic rather than Jose Mourinho would prove to be “the real special one” of football management.

And in an exclusive interview with Sportingintelligence, Srna said: “He is an unbelievable man. West Ham will not be the limit for him. When he has achieved everything he can at West Ham, he will one day join a top, top club.

“What he has done so far in his career is no accident. He could manage a Barcelona or a Manchester club without any problem.”

He said that what made Bilic successful was his relationship with his players, that could change depending on the footballer’s personality.

He said: “I fell in love with Slaven Bilic when he was my coach at Hajduk Split. Depending on who you are in the team, he is a friend, a coach, a father or a brother. He is the real special one, believe me. It means that players are ready to die for him.”

Srna said Bilic’s touchline performance on the night Croatia ensured Steve McClaren’s England would not qualify for Euro 2008 was a perfect demonstration of his qualities.

“The positive energy he gives from the sidelines is astonishing,” said Srna. “You saw that in that game at Wembley and the interesting thing about that night was that we did not need to win that match.”