West Ham fans have voted they want Slaven Bilic to remain in charge of the club next season but the percentage of those voting in favour of him in a ClaretadHugh poll has dipped dramatically since pre-Christmas.
Before the festive games the Croat won a poll by a landslide with over 80 per cent of the vote but this time round his lead over the dissenters has dropped to just five per cent.
After beating Swansea last weekend and gaining a point at Sunderland yesterday CandH launched the new poll after he had virtually led the club to safety.
But with over 2,700 votes cast – the largest in the site’s history” a total of 48.17 per cent (1304 voters) were for him to stay and 43.18 per cent (1169) to be replaced.
The remainder – (234) were ‘don’t knows.’
Among the comments on the CandH website were:
O ” I voted no, because I can’t see who would want to come to this club and replace him. He does have a passion for the club and I can only hope these first two seasons here are a learning curve that’ll help push Slav and the team into great things, but that said I’m not so sure that he can.
O “I like Bilic and admire his defence of the team but privately I hope he both slates and drops Randolph for the next game as he is a liability at the moment. This is a failing in not changing things. As to getting another manager in, who would we get that can work any further magic on the player pool we have or likely to have in the future?
O “The fact that there polls being held at all doesn’t bode well for Slaven Bilic . There is definitely an air of uncertainty amongst the fans . My mind is made up . We need a change .”
O “Bilic lasted just one year at Lokomotiv Moscow after guiding them to there lowest EVER league position in history (in the Russian league for goodness sake). Sacked. Bilic last just two seasons at Beşiktaş before being, again, sacked.He ISNT a top manager. Nice bloke – yes.”
Really good intelligent and interesting discussion – thanks all for playing so nice – lovely, lively stuff and happy Easter to you all.
We always play nicely young Hughie.I dont know where you got the idea from that we dont lol
I have backed him from day one but even I am having problems with some of his team selections and tactics.I think once he has made his mind up on a certain player or formation he sticks to it whatever the outcome.Lets be honest without naming names certain players should have been dropped weeks ago but Slav persists hoping there will be a miraculous turnaround.Whats happening with Sakho?.This one reminds me of this town aint big enough for the both of us.Interesting to see if the owners really have made their minds up once the season ends on this saga.
It’s time for the owners to employ a top class coach and stop taking short cuts and wishing on hope and dreams. Also start to invest properly in the transfer market.
Not been around today, so unable to vote ‘go’ in the poll. I admire the patience & loyalty of the ‘stay’ voters, but surely he has to go. Bad signings, failure to sort out the defence ( we have conceded more thanSunderland), the countless thrashings, the succession of points lost to late goals, etc etc. The charge sheet is a long one.
The best manager in the world would not get these players into the top four, but a poor one can end up failing to get them in the top ten which is where this team should be. A good manager gets the best out of the players he has & works out a system to suit them. I don’t think Bilic has done either of these things this season. He is not being paid well because he is a good bloke who once played for us.
Th problem i see is the fans perception of the club and what they expect it to achieve.
The fact 43% want him replaced fills me a bit with despair.
The fact the travelling fans and many at the OS sing his name though tells me that the loyal following are fully behind him
Well when it was mentioned that the away support of which i am no longer a regular young Nigel still sung for Slaven and he had much support we were told on here that they are just silly songs that mean nothing and are mainly sung by tourists lol.
Interesting though that many inside football take the away support as a very good gauge to the true feelings of supporters towards a manager.
My boy goes to many away games and though he is a tad dispirited with a few performances he says that Slaven is still very well backed amongst the travelling band of fans.
I heard Watford fans singing that they are the team team in the world. Must be true then as the away fans were singing it.
*best team
Thats a totally different thing singing about your club or singing about the manager ********.
I sing his name because I like him and believe he is trying hard but I am not convinced by him as a man capable of breaking into the top 6 and that is what I want to see us achieve.
To break into the top 6 you need to realistically out spend the top 6,
we don’t have that money and frankly never will under this ownership.
I sing his name because I support West Ham. It does not mean that I support him. I would like him to resign at the end of the season and go with dignity.
I sing his name because everyone else does. Baaaaaa
Loyalty & optimism are good character traits. But you have to look at the facts too & sometimes a change has to be made. All the pundits sneered when Leicester sacked Ranieri, but I have seen a couple change their tune recently.
Especially when you read the stories of what really went on at leicester’s training ground. Even more worrying is the revelation that one of our best ever defender turn coaches is doing shooting drills with the strikers? Who appoints the coaches to their roles? Surely with Slav and Dicks you would expect a rock solid defence,we’re pathetic. Even more ridiculous to think that they then went and turned down help from Rio. Three amazing defenders to choose from to coach the defence and none used? come on time for a change now.
Those advocating a change of manager
How do they feel about payet and his loyalty and compare that to the loyalty they are showing Billic,
Payet was labled a snake for his lack of loyalty
At the end of the day, Payet left because of Bilic tactics. Payet took us up the league and instilled confidence in the players. Bilic is doing the opposite
The last comment on Hugh’s post regarding Bilic’s track record at Lokomotiv & Besiktas says it all for me.Too nice a person for his own good.I believe Bilic hasn’t made the changes or recruited wisely to take the team to another level.The buck stops with Bilic.
Sorry, but I’m not voting. Look, debrief the team and pick the starting line-up today, Monday for Saturday’s game Vs Everton, Slaven, then debrief again & install a total media lock-out with no players allowed to talk outside of team circles until taking the pitch on Saturday. There are 5 games to play for and 15 points to be won. Make an impression Slaven, win the last 5 games & you’ll be a hero with all sins forgiven. If media reports can be trusted, well according to them, West Ham have lost a total so far of 22 points from holding winning positions this season, more than any other club in the Premier League. Why is that? Why is it that on most occasions when West Ham take the lead they seem to “Loose Their Bottle” Whereas most other teams would swell, grow in confidence and bask in being in front, West Ham seem to sit back and loose the confidence in that they can hold this. Not surprising that we have let in 59 goals this season which is more conceded than any other club, and what is more surprising is that this has started happening under Slaven’s reign and Slaven in his playing days for West Ham was a defender. One would think that he, more than some others, would know how to defend. All the big teams seem to have nowhere near the trouble West Ham do in holding onto a lead. A beautiful example was Liverpool’s display yesterday at the Hawthorns where Tony Pulis threw everything at Liverpool’s 1-0 lead. Milner should have made it 2-0 and others, but no, Pulis is a tough customer and 1 was all that could be got and how they defended that was heroic. West Ham can’t seem to do that enough, why? Confidence is important, which we had with Payet in the side, and on a different point, in relation to defending keepers being hemmed into their 6 yard box during corners. Did one take a look at Liverpool’s Mignolet? He was throwing his arms from his knees to high over his head constantly swatting away annoyances like flies and never getting caught in his box. Even Liverpool at times have let in too many goals, but when the game was important to get back in the top 3 then they were determined to finish in front. Our game Vs Villa was equally as important for 3 points more away from the zone. Where’s the passion, the anger and the rage in these players hearts to give back to a club who pays them handsomely, because it doesn’t seem to be apparent. The club will need to attract new talent for next season. It has a fabulous stadium, so no problem there. The manager I’m not sure. The owners, not sure on that front either, but one thing is for sure, and that is that if a wealthy oil conglomerate bought West Ham they would change everything, especially a club that is almost in the City & central CBD of one the main capitols of the world and certainly capitol of the world’s financial system, to have this club as the local club because Stratford is right next door to the CBD & financial centre, it deserves multibillion dollar owners such as Chelsea & Man City have. Then, when that change of ownership happens, you’ll have the world’s top players & managers falling over themselves trying to sign for West Ham. That will happen and West Ham will become “The Big End of Town” It’s inevitable!
Mywhufc- you compare those wanting to replace Bilic with Payet. Come on for Heaven’s sake! This is an opinion on the way to take forward the club we ALL support. And yes the opinion of the travelling fans is important, but it’s not all important. Not everybody has the time, money, fitness to be an away supporter. We may still have given the club a lifetime’s support. I suspect a lot of the Leicester fans who remained ‘loyal’ to Ranieri would not want to turn the clock back now. It is nothing personal regarding Bilic, but in any walk of life your boss has to make a judgment on whether you get promoted, demoted, get a pay rise, get moved on. Those who want Bilic replaced now are just coming to a judgment based on the facts of this season that he has not delivered.
I dont really get what you lot expect,we are pretty much where we always are in the PL except for the very rare higher place like last season.
Our squad is a midtable squad and without heavy investment that wont change.
Benitez,Howe,Mancini,Monk,whoever it may be you will soon turn on or have the hump with.Its a cast iron certainty..
I’d like to repeat what I said on the poll article. Does anyone see the irony of us wanting Sam to go because he split the fan base when they see the results of a poll that has a 47/43% vote with 10% undecided? If that ain’t a fan split then I’m a banana.
I remain on the fence with Sean, I will stay there until the end of the season. Lots of people predicting we will not pick up another point but still stay up. That’s a scary thought and perfectly feasible and surely that would be the end of Slaven. Personally I see us picking up 6/7 points and probably 12th place and that would probably give the board the reason they want to retain Slaven on his current contract. I do think that they want to keep him on tbh.
Fine lines for Slaven in my opinion.