We know there is never a right time to run this kind of poll and some say we should never run them at all.
Yet because of so much external media pressure even the board itself was forced to give Slaven Bilic a vote of confidence a few days ago ahead of some crucial games.
Since then the four points gathered have made us all but safe and the chance of relegation is incredibly thin.
So let’s try to settle the discussion for the final time and send your message to the powers that be.
We ask one simple question: Should the club should replace Slaven Bilic over the summer before he enters the final year of his three-year contract.
Do the board back him or sack him this summer?
Funnily enough Sean, I asked Hugh the same question a couple of weeks ago on here.
I wasn’t (and am still not) convinced Slav is the man for us. Hugh however chose to stick then. Do you feel the same?
Also it looks like posts are disappearing again.
Posts will disappear when they are bitter, twisted and untrue Condor. Had enough of that particularly when our reasons are explicit and explained. Happy Easter mate
Oh, ok Hugh.
I noticed one post on the article but when I clicked there was nothing posted.
And a happy hols to you too fella👍🍺🍺
I know it’s a bit of cop out but I am decided and somewhat on th fence. Here we are with a great bloke, loved the players, fans and media. Someone who is passionate and wears his heart on his slieve.
Yet there remains an element of doubt whether he can move us on to the next level in my mind. The summer signings which he signed off on bring some doubt as to his judgement. His tactics including playing Antonio out of position bring further frustration. His choice of back room staff most of which appear to be Yes men and the rumours of an easy training regime also do not sit easy with me.
That said. Be careful what you wish for, I would only replace Slav if we could find an improvement. Mancini or Raneri wouldn’t do it for me. I admire Eddie Howe but I dount he would come and Bournemouth are below us this season so we could be back to square.
I suppose it depends what we want. Do you want premier League survival year in year out and the odd cup run. If so stick with Bilic If we truly have ambitions to push for the top six and the board are really prepared to spend over one million pound then perhaps we should look elsewhere.
In reality I fear we want the best of two worlds, we want the board to invest, we want a nice likeable bloke as manager and we want West Ham to move to the next level.
I don’t envy their decision at the end of the season
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 .
No bitterness or nastiness involved . Just a plain old point of view .
I am with Sean on this – I am undecided – I swing from fully supportive to a string of results that just leave you so frustrated (e.g. Sunderland) and would have liked to see another option on the poll as these things are never clear cut. So if Slav is told that he must juice up his backroom team and his summer transfer window targets need to be spot on then the option to stick for another year should be there. But the position needs to be clearly spelt out to Slav – The love for him as the Hammers Manager and the real potential and platform for us is there – the real frustration is that its not being realised. This will be the most difficult decision for the board.
Sean these owners dont have the money to push us to the top top 4/6 regardless of who we get as manager. I have to admit what we are seeing on the pitch is really poor but the whole club seems to be a mess at the moment. Im not convinced just changing the manager is going to make a huge difference, before we do that we need to put a proper plan in place.
You can’t change owners but owners can change managers.
Thats very true.
Spot on Russ. The owners are playing the “big Game “. Theytalk,talk,talk the talk but have not got the funds and /or balls to walk the walk …
Welcome back , bubbles .
Been quite .
What is your take on the whole situation we find ourselves in after two seasons ?.
Just a honest opinion is all that it needs . No need to worry about reactions .
Bilic lasted just 1 year at Lokomotiv Moscow after guiding them to there lowest EVER league position in history (in the Russian league omg). Sacked.
Bilic last just 2 seasons at Beşiktaş before being, again, sacked.
He ISNT a top manager.
Nice bloke-yes.
Club legend – hell no, he played 49 games before asking to leave for Everton.
Payet leaving is NOT an excuse for the while season to be an embarrassment.
The stadium change is NOT an excuse
either.
Remember, we lost to Romanian part timer footballers, Astra, AGAIN at the start of the season…. we all should have known it was going to be downhill from there.
You make a pretty good case for him to go Reggie to be fair. Didn’t Besikitis win the league the year after he left?
I’m not a Bilic hater – I’m just so fed up being trampled on this season. Last season had major cracks that were well papered over, this season though, the cracks have really shone through and he isn’t capable of fixing them.
I’d take Rafa all day to be honest. Or Eddie Howe. We can’t get any worse than Bilic and his back room team, including Julian Dicks.
Yep with you Reggie. Far from hating Slaven I love the bloke but I expected much more from this season.
Reggie we love the man but not his tactics ,or lack of them .
I’m sat beside Sean in the fence. I hope it’s a strong fence 😂😂
Whenever I see a poll asking a straight forward question and I see morons that can’t make their minds up and tick “don’t know” I despair because I think surely you can make a decision and if you can’t because you have limited brain power to reach a decision then why not just don’t take part in the poll!! Don’t take part!!
Anyhow, that said, I ticked “don’t know” as I don’t have the faintest idea what the owners should do. I love Slaven but I’m not sure he knows his way around the transfer market or can make good players better and that includes the youth. I think last season masked a lot as we had some great results but equally appalling halfs where we found ourselves 2 down only to come back to get a point.
So whilst the board will get slaughtered by the usual people if they get rid (because it’s all the boards fault and not Billic) I would totally support them (equally unsurprising some would say!) if they shipped him out.
I reckon Rafa is still their man and that would get my vote too even though that would split our fickle fan base once more.
Playing Devils advocate for a second, but should the Board ‘insist’ on a shake-up to the coaching staff, I wonder if that give’s Slav the perfect opportunity to walk away, with both sides not appearing to lose face.
God I hope I’m wrong, but something keeps telling me Steve McClaren might be in the frame should Slav go 😱😱😱😱
Steve McLaren… you’ve just tipped me over the edge of sanity 🤡
Yeah, I know fella.
I’m hoping it was all a fever dream after my dodge ruby last night😰
Condor I reckon that will happen whether Billic stays or goes. McClaren will NOT happen lmao. I actually think Slaven will be allowed to see out his final year and if he does I’d not be surprised to see him make a success of it.
If not it’s Rafa for me all day long. Mind Rafa would be unlikely to leave Newcastle surely?
If as reported Slav does have final sign-off on transfers, then I’d only be inclined to give him another year if that responsibility was taken away. How likely is that though? Also, is Tony Henry still on the payroll?
I’m not really bothered with the Spanish waiter either way tbh.
Think it’s unlikely he’d want to come to what is in reality a struggling club when he’s just got the barcodes promoted?
I’m also partly in agreement with Russ above, as I do think our lack of spending power would deter the likes of Mancini and potential ‘top quality’ players from coming to us.
I’m not knocking SuGo, but just think they’ve taken us as far as they can on the finances available. IMO, of course.
So it’s a fact (I think) that the board spend regularly the 7th highest in the prem behind ManC and ManU and Arse Spuds Chelsea Liverpool. Net spend too has averaged 6th highest as we saw the other day. So how much should they spend? Should they spend more than ManU whose turnover is 6 times West Ham? More than City and Chelsea who have unlimited funds? Arse or Liverpool with a turnover 3/4 times us. The owners have a lot of faults but spending the money isn’t one of them. Every penny was spent last season so profit was close to nil whereas Spuds had a £8M profit. Imagine how that would’ve been receive if West Ham made £8M!
Not gonna argue with you there John, as we spend well if we’re considered a mid-table club (which on this years showing we’re struggling to achieve).
I just think that to become a top six team (if that’s what we crave), then we have to spend more than I believe either of the Dave’s could afford/are willing to spend.
And before you say it (and reasonably so if you did), then no, spending large doesn’t guarantee success. I think our problem is the fact that we’d need to spend large(r) in an attempt to catch the big-boys (WBA??) currently above us as I think a fair amount of our current squad require an upgrade.
Once again, not a criticism of either, just my observation👍
Agree with what you say Condor (not sure if this comment will come out beneath your last comment lol) but the simple fact is if they spent an extra £20M last financial year they’d have made a loss. They can’t go making a £20M loss every year. I’d hope the budget will be higher next season because of increased revenue at the OS. Now if that happens they must be praised for a) spending the extra revenue and also b) for generating the extra revenue by making the move to the OS.
For me the problem is bad management (Billic and his staff) for not being able to improve the players he is given (Tore Zaza Fonte Snodgrass Nordtvielt Fegouli are not bad players) or if they ARE bad players, then it’s down to poor recruitment.
Again I say it’s not down to how much we spend as we are only spending less than the big 6 as must be expected and we spend more than all the others net and gross. We should be top 8 every season and challenging for top 4. We SHOULD be where the Spuds were 6 years ago. We ain’t however.
Right enough of me. Easter bunny hunt beckons.
pass me the cyanide capsules !
I agree with Sean Slav has had plenty of chances to change things round & buy the players he wants unfortunately he does not seem to have that spark that will enthuse average players to become better & boy do we have some average players mainly the ones Slav has bought from what was published a month ago it seems all of Slav’s chosen players have been average or very poor so either he must be told who to buy by someone with more expertise or he must go we cannot carry on as we are or next season will be one long relegation fight which with our current defence we will lose
It would be easy to tick ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ if there were known credible alternatives. Would Rafa leave Newcastle? If he did, how much would he want to spend? Mancini? Doesn’t do it for me. Howe? Not leaving Bournemouth until Arsenal want him, in my opinion. Ranieri? Had his one freak season. Add in the stadium move (it has had an effect, even if it’s been the negativity of the crowd), and the wonderful selection of injuries and I’m inclined so say ‘stick’. However, the RB situation dragging on, the declining form of Randolph being tolerated, not dropping a flagging Noble and our inability to hold a lead tends me towards ‘twist’. I still think we’re only two injury returns (Reid and Sakho) and two new signings (Hart and Lacazette/Mandukic) from being near the top six.
Unfortunately, so are ten other clubs!
Agree 100% fella👍👍
I totally agree Demon. I love Nobes to bits and he always gives 100% but he no longer has it at top level. Randy has been worse than awful since Christmas costing us many points with his lack of strength in the 6 yard box. His display yesterday was embarrassing. Feghouli is improving going forward but has absolutely no appetite to defend. How often does he lose the ball and then simply stroll around making no effort to get back and help in defence. Then we have Antonio and Snodgrass persistently being played in positions they clearly do not like. Calleiri had a decent game last week and this week he is rewarded with a minute. I simply believe Bilic has used up all his credits and I am not even sure all the players are giving their all for him. Regretfully, I think we must twist.
I like most and as the poll would indicate am undecided I voted yes tentatively but the dilemma for me is as bad as we have been without the ball if it weren’t for individual mistakes we would be in and around 7th, we have also thrown away a league high 22 points from winning positions some of which are natural due to superior opponents, we have conceded more goals than Sunderland, my strong opinion is that most of it is due to poor quality training, you make less mistakes if you are better drilled and it is obvious by how many really poor late goals we concede that there is an issue in conditioning which leads to lack of focus when energy levels are depleted. Then you have to look at the players how many have improved under Slav ? We have bought some really hot prospects so we have to think about their future because it may be them that elevate us. I am willing to give Slav another season but I won’t be disappointed if we change to someone that is a superior coach and manager like Sampaoli or Bielsa, please not Rafa or Mancini though.
Would the result of the poll change if it had been run after last weeks win rather than the day after a bad performance?
As we said there’s no good time to run a poll Evert …but we believe in letting people who follow us have their say. If u know of a betterway russ let us know
There have been too many bad performances . Not too much discussion is needed .
We can send messages and chats all day long but , it won’t change the reality of what is happening and what has failed to happen . Bilic was Fourth choice manager anyway .
If we want to get ahead we need to pay for it ., That much should be obvious to the most Ardent of fans . Cult worship is fine but , it doesn’t secure our future .
This poll will end up 48% in favour of keeping Super Slav and 48% in favour of getting rid of Tragic Slav. With 4% dithering, like me, undecided! Does anyone else see the irony of us getting rid of Big Sam for splitting the fan base? It’s ok I’m not making a case for Alladyce but I’d sure accept a cross between Sam and Slav right now. A Samslav Allabillic if you will. 😂😂
There was a massive split in the fan – base where Big Sam was involved . He was ousted by a maniaced fan obsession by to this day i still don’t understand . The same fan -base that is now 50/50 on Bilics future . The difference is that there was a hate factor with BS that didn’t make much sense . Call it cult , if you want ., of which he wasn’t . But he did get us promoted and started to build a team . A team that started to look pretty good IMO .
Note I am not fully behind Alladyce but , his contributions were crucial to West Ham .
Bilic , on the other hand , hasn’t exactly made a decent contribution to West Ham ., but he has escaped the ridicule that was afforded to BS . , why ? , Cult , obviously .
It’s time to cut our way out of our West Ham time bubble and go for something radical .
I have voted go in the summer with a heavy heart. Slav was a great antidote to Sam for our final season at the Boleyn but passion does not substitute a lack of game plan and some dreadful signings.
In goal Adrian should have come back some time ago. At right back he fell out with a champions league winner ((Arberola) and has consistently experimented to compensate for a lack of trust in Byram – trying Norvelt, Antonio, and Koyate out of position, and going for a back three.
In central defence he chose not to back Burke or Oxford and bring in Fonte on wages that upset the squad (apparently). He invested in a sussession of players who prefer the right wing – fergouli, Snodgrass Tore and Ayew when we already have Antonio. Up front we labour on with Carroll as the only true striker after failed experiments with Zara and Calleiri, Billic and Sakho seem to be perpetually falling out. The team lack shape and intensity and even fitness. We are being associated with yet more aging warriors suggesting little chance ahead for Cullen, Martinez, Rice, Samuelson, etc. Time to change.
As much as I like Bilic unfortunatly I have lost my faith in him. He has been here now for best part of 2 seasons & 3 full transfer windows & hasn’t improved the squad at all.
It just isn’t working is it? Can we honestly say we are showing any advance on the slug based on this season? Bilic was told to play the west ham way, well maybe this is the West Ham way of the modern day, not very good 😉
I said over on the dark side yesterday that we would have struggled in the championship this season, how much is that down down to the coaching team & transfer targets? Half the time the team play like they don’t know each other & certainly have no idea on how to defend. Bilic & Dicks were defenders so why are we shipping in goals like we are, why are we the 2nd worst team in goals against in the PL?
Who to replace him, I don’t know but if we don’t do something drastic over the summer we are in for an even worse season which could mean relegation.
Bilic has no compo in his contract so it wouldn’t cost the club anything…
You don’t have to be nasty to want him replaced he simply isn’t good enough he’s taken us backwards this year! I like him like a lot of other people but I do wonder wetter he is too matey with everyone and accepts to many poor performances ?!
I voted no, however it’s only because I can’t see who’d 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. Antonio at RB, Randolph first choice, rubbish signings, talk of subpar training and back room staff and constant rumours of falling outs with top players. I was hoping for something special this year, never mind. At least next year we don’t have to suffer the embarrassment of going out of a European competition at the preliminary stage. Thank the gods for Sam Byrams disciplinary record making sure of that.
COYI
I do like Bilic and admire his defence of the team which I hope is the public face and privately hope he both slates and drops Randolph for the next game as he is a bit of a liability at the moment. This is a failing in not changing things (unless of course there are things we don’t know about Adrian?)
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?
Does anyone truly believe that Mourinio, Klopp, Conte et al would make a difference if managing Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Swansea or us on the budgets that teams operate with.
Yes they are great managers when they have bucketfuls of money to play with, but would struggle in the same way as ‘lesser’ men with no money. That being the case who do the ‘experts’ think will do the job for us better that the passionate guy we have now?
I was a big fan of Slav’s but he has lost me. Mainly too many rumours of poor training, no smoke etc and he can’t seem to manage players, too many player incidents this season and he is there to manage those which he hasn’t. Not even started 9n summer and January purchases, weird substitutions and strange tactics or his arrogance playing players out of positions. I think if we dig deep we want him to succeed but we know something is wrong and the likehood is he just ain’t good enough.
Bilic is a likeable guy but I question his tactics, the team’s ability to stay focused and concentrate.
I’m not convinced he has the dressing room. He seems a bit pally with the players and defends them slot even when we are awful. I don’t think think he’s ruthless enough. I bet he does not drop Randolph.
He also does not bring the youth through. We are have far better players out on loan than we do at the club. Everton and Liverpool aren’t afraid to play their kids so why aren’t we doing the same?
He’s a nice bloke but lacking in what it takes in all areas. Recruitment, tactics, man management, motivation, fitness. I was delighted when he replaced Allardyce but I was wrong. We can can into get into the top 7 or 8 next year with sizeable investment this summer – but not if it is wasted, which would be the case if Slav was still here. Time to go.
As for who is available, there must be many in Europe, or the Championship, who could do better, not to mention Howe who I think is a perfect fit (for him and us). Crucial decisions coming up for the Board, get it right and we will be a force to be reckoned with. COYI
I dont care who replaces Bilic as long as Allardyce never sets foot near us again.
All this talk from fickle fans who were crowing from the roof tops last season as we won at Poo Citeh Arse and had a once in 30 year season.
I have read it on here before from others and totally agree…aint going to make any difference who comes in next season they will still get slaughtered by the same old people…
Good discussion fellas,lots of good points for and aganst.Me im going to get a splinter in my aris.I really dont fancy Benitez and dont see him leaving the toon when they come up.
Howe,well he is a good young manager but his defence is as shot away as ours.
I said it Travis and still say it will happen,wont matter who comes in they will get slated within a couple of months.Every other manager we have had in recent times has been ripped apart since the internet became a place to give views,why would a new manager not get the same abuse? lol