West Ham fans can expect to find out their new manager within 48 hours according to owner David Sullivan’s son, Jack.
He advised all supporters this afternoon that they can expect an appointment to happen imminently via his personal twitter account;
“Cheeky update – we expect to announce our new manager within 48 hours or less, keep visiting official WHU website, where it will be announced.”
Jack Sullivan has emerged as a major source for such announcements over the last few seasons. Fans regularly take to his twitter account for updates on transfer news as well as the current managerial race.
This tweet came following a statement released on the club website explaining what stage the recruitment process had reached.
“West Ham United’s search for a new manager looks to be entering its final stages, with the club hoping to make an announcement within the next 48 hours,”
“The board cleared their diaries and spent the weekend meeting and interviewing applicants and, with the shortlist now narrowed down, talks are entering and advanced stage with the favoured candidates.”
Those favoured candidates are widely tipped to be former West Ham player Slaven Bilic and Marseille manager Marco Bielsa. But the Croatian, Bilic, is widely tipped as odds on favourite for the role with most bookmakers after previous target Uni Emery signed a new deal with Sevilla at the end of last week.
This has been a tiring process for the club, but this announcement will cause fans and employees alike to take a big sigh of relief and begin their preparation for the long season ahead.
Co-owner David Gold expressed his admiration for his partner, explaining he’s never seen him work so hard in looking for a new manager.
“It’s hard work, I know that the fans have different opinions over who they would like. What I can say is that David Sullivan, I’ve never known him to be in such a frenzy and working all the hours God send to bring in the best possible manager,”
Gold’s comments fuel the speculation that Bilic is their man, as he is ideally looking for an established manager with West Ham connections;
“We would like someone who has managed successfully in one of the major leagues in the world. We want to bring in an established manager who has been there and done it.
“Every day goes by, it is a case of elimination. It would be lovely to have someone with West Ham history, that ticks a box.”
Writer’s view: Uni Emery signing a new deal with Sevilla was a bit of a blow for the Hammers. There was no other realistic candidate with the exception of Benitez with his pedigree in European Competition.
But West Ham could do worse than Bilic. He created a wonderful team when in charge of the Croatian national side and has achieved far better win percentage ratios than his apparent rival for the job Marco Bielsa.
Whoever is appointed, the fans need to get behind him from the off. There always seemed to be a sense the fans were just waiting to turn on Allardyce, but that’s not the only reason he left, their football was atrocious in the second half of the campaign.