Anyone remember those old westerns when the guy was chased out of town and then hunted by a posee determined to either shoot him or hang him?
That was my first thought after reading a terrific piece by Paul Walker on www.kumb.com who made his sympathies for the manager very clear.
Now, I don’t agree with every word Paul – a mate and long-term journalistic colleague has written – but his central point that a very decent human being should never be treated in such a way over such an extended period is spot on.
Let me ask you: Were you to be threatened publicly with the sack, told you are useless and effed and blinded on social network at every turn how would you respond?
Probably in like manner – I know I have and may I say regretted it deeply given that those who behave in such a way simply aren’t worth it.
Slaven cannot react at all apart from delivering some sort of pre-match fodder for the reporters only to then find himself accused of talking too much.
Paul makes many salient points in his piece at http://kumb.com/article.php?id=4032 where centrally he says that no human being should be treated this way. He’s right.
Slav is being hung out to dry by the club. I won’t argue against his departure should it happen and when it does I can’t imagine he’ll do anything but breathe a huge sigh of relief and move on with his life.
But he’s gonna carry plenty of scars in a situation where there’s no end in sight. As Paul says: “Essentially he’s not being kept on for two more games but until a suitable replacement is found.”
Let’s be honest if that is the case Slav is unable to do anything about it other than to resign and lose out on his compensation.
Whether you believe of his managerial abilities are poor or that he deserves the sack or not is immaterial.
What we should all be able to agree on surely is that no person in the world deserves to put in such a situation.
His interview after Saturday’s defeat was that of a man worn down by regular sniping and threats to his job week in week out.
I believe it’s time for him to go but he deserves better than this and the club need to ensure he can do so in a decent and dignified manner which befits him.
Spot on.
That is true but other mangers are treated the same. I agree that the Board should just let him go and give him rst of his salary. But now we will compete w Everton & Leicester for mgrs. And we are 8 points off where we were last season. Worse then Evereton Leicester.I think.
But I think he knows he is done the players do and that is making things worse.
How many times as he had 2 more games? Slav is a nice bloke seems like a good person and looks just run down and over the job himself. So I don’t think he should be treated this way but unfortunately the buck stops w manager most time. And I think the best thing the board could do is end a relationship that as become toxic for all.
It is a bad situation but 2 note games is just puting off the enevitable.
All west ham supporters are decent and don’t deserve the dross they have been watching and the bull****t that came along with it , sakho and our two keepers have had the same treatment in a snidy sort of way from sully and his remarks !! The common denominator here is the board along with a poor manager and staff and to be fair to bilic if he feels like crap then resign as he ain’t short of a few quid and move on to another club to mismanage !!
He gets no sympathy from me as he’s hitting my pocket and playing with my heartstrings for the club I’ve supported long before he was even born !! In an ideal world bilic and the board would walk off into the fog never to be seen again in Stratford !!! This piece does nothing to change things at our club and if bilic doesn’t want to move on without his money then take it on the chin until the muppets are forced to sack him !! If we go down then sugo and belle tent will get far much worse than bilic is getting !!! Coyis 😉
And do you know what , rice didn’t deserve the humiliation he got neither did he !!! 😤
But let’s all make bilic the hard done by one ,!! What a load of 💩
Agree completely with both comment’s Laz..
Spot on, the Club collectively is in a mess – there’s been mismanagement over the years, the recruitment has been poor, the playing pool is thin and lacking in quality.
When you come to the things that Bilic is directly responsible for like the Training, Team Selection, Pattern of Play, Tactics, morale etc – I honestly think he’s fallen down on the job and is not up to it.
David Sullivan carries more of the responsibility for the parlous state of the Club but he’s not going anywhere – unfortunately it’s the Manager who carries the can and Bilic’s time has been up for quite a while.
For the most part, I’ve stopped commenting on forums – mostly due to the increasing amount of negativity – still lurking though. This article as brought me out of the shell to say well done, sir. Takes a big man to say something like “I know I have and may I say regretted it deeply ”
We’ll chalk it down to frustration. COYI !!!
He must be a multi millionaire? he’s **** at his job at won’t walk away because of compensation ! What about everyone going every week who struggle to afford it? Having to watch his clueless tactics and awful football.. decency would be saying ” im sorry im not up to the job and the fans deserve better”
I am with Mooro on this. Spot on article.
If they think Slav will resign they obviously haven’t noted how stubborn he is, he persists in playing players out of position, refuses to change his inept coaching staff, sticks by players to the bitter end, those stubborn attributes are essential for anyone dealing with Sullivan I am sure but they are not doing us any favours, he has a contract the club should pay him off as would any business in the same position, we had a few good times in the first season lets leave before it all gets acrimonious.
Sorry, but no, no, no. “after being made to carry on and on without an end in sight”? I beg your pardon? Poor Slaven is being made to carry on? No, the only reason he is carrying on is because he has not resigned…bacuase he wants to. From your tone you’re accusing the board of modern day slavery. Absolute nonsense. Why shoudl he resign? Out of self respect, because it is the honerable thing to do, because he should. But he hasn’t and he won’t. There’s no gun pointing to his head. He is highly paid, it is a stressful job, but hey, he’s not a neurosurgeon, he’s a Premiership Football Team manager… just a very bad one. He could manage the situation. His fate, it’s in his own hands. But he wont. No manager he. Time long overdue he was gone.
Agree entirely with ironman. Slav can walk at any time and it would be both the right and decent thing to do. Nobody is holding a gun to his head are they? Why is he hanging around when he knows in his heart of hearts he cannot motivate his squad and get the best from them? That’s the real issue here.
So let’s cut out the poor old Slav headlines please. He has had every opportunity and has failed to deliver. Poor old De Bour, poor old Koeman, but poor old Slav? I think not.
Watford chop and change manager every year and get hounded about it but guess what, they improve every year and are actually quite stable.
The old ideas are broken.
How many times have we read about failed business leaders walking away with massive (and often taxpayer funded) payouts, heads of public bodies such as child services similarly walking away with big payouts. At the same time those hurt by their decisions are left to live with the consequences of their poor leadership. He picked the teams, he decided on the tactics, he decides about training methods and training personnel. Who is going to repay us ? No one is making him stay. He can walk if it’s hurting him too much. It’s his freely choosen decision.
I was pleased when Slav came to us, as he seemed like a breath of fresh air after the fat walrus departed.
After an excellent first season with some blinding results, followed by the ‘difficult’ second season, albeit one with extenuating circumstances (our move to the athletics stadium and the French phuq sodding-off in particular) I was fairly optimistic of a decent season.
However, it’s pretty obvious to me now that despite appearing to be a decent bloke and ‘getting’ West Ham, Slav appears to be tactically inept, and stubborn to the degree where despite non-favourable results with his experiments (Ant at RB?) he perseveres regardless, to the detriment of the team.
All this talk of him being ‘West Ham’ that I’ve heard from some because he once played for us is total bow-locks, imo.
How many games did he play for us? Was it even 50?
Of course he’s going to hang on to the grim death. So would I for the amount of compo he’s likeley to be due!
It might be different however if West Ham were as dear to him as some would like to believe.
Sully, ffs just put your chubby hand in you back pocket (or whatever second world war era Russian breeches had) and pull your wallet out!
All just my opinion, of course.