West Ham have sacked manager Slaven Bilic after a terrible run of form.
The club’s 4-1 loss to Liverpool at the weekend left them in the Premier League’s bottom three, having collected just two wins from their opening 11 games of the season.
Bilic’s reign has subsequently been brought to an end, with former Manchester United and Everton manager David Moyes waiting in the wings to replace him.
“West Ham United can confirm that Slaven Bilic has today left his position with the club,” read a statement on their official website.
“The chairmen and board of West Ham United would like to place on record their thanks and gratitude to Slaven and his team for their services over the past two-and-a-half years, but believe a change is now necessary in order for the club to move forward positively and in line with their ambition.
“West Ham United can confirm that Bilic’s coaching assistants Nikola Jurcevic, Edin Terzic, Julian Dicks and Miljenko Rak have also left the club with immediate effect.
“The club’s search for a new manager to take West Ham United forward is underway and an announcement regarding Bilic’s successor is expected to be made over the coming days.”
Moyes is set to be given a deal until the end of the season, whereupon his performance will be reviewed.
Bilic guided West Ham to seventh in his debut season at the club, the last at the Boleyn Ground, before finishing 11th last season.
However, joint-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold have issued a statement, claiming that they gave Bilic the tools to move the club forward, which he has failed to do.
“It is with disappointment and heavy hearts that we have made the decision to relieve Slaven Bilic of his duties as West Ham United manager,” the statement read.
“Since joining the club in the summer of 2015, Slaven has conducted himself throughout with honesty and integrity, and shown great determination and commitment to the role.
“In his first season – our final campaign at the Boleyn Ground – he led the team to a memorable finish that no Hammers fan will ever forget, and gave us a 3-2 victory against Manchester United in our final home game there that will go down in West Ham United history.
“During the summer, the board invested heavily signing the players Slaven believed would complete the squad he needed to push the club back towards the level we had reached in his first season, and we believe we have the players capable of doing that.
“Sadly, performances and results have not been of the expected standard and, in recent weeks, we have not seen enough indication of the required improvement to give us the encouragement that things would change and we would meet our Premier League aspirations this season.
“As custodians of the football club it is our responsibility as a Board to do what is best for West Ham United, and we believe a change is now necessary to ensure we can begin to move the team back in the right direction.
“We see this as an exciting opportunity to appoint a quality manager to the position to inject fresh ideas, organisation and enthusiasm into a very talented squad.”
