West Ham need to stick with Slaven Bilic in spite of rough start

West Ham cannot afford to panic and axe their manager

Officials at West Ham have every right to be concerned with their club’s disastrous start to the 2016-17 campaign. They must not, however, torpedo the club’s long-term future by parting ways with manager Slaven Bilic.

Reports emanating from West London claim that club officials are losing patience with Bilic after the Hammers have only won two of their last 12 matches. Instead of giving him a new contract in January as they originally planned, they are now more likely to axe Bilic if things don’t turn around quickly.

I realize football is a result-based business. Managers and players are judged purely on what they’ve done for a club lately. Stars are only good as their current form.

With that being said, firing Bilic at this point would be absolute madness. It was just last season that the fiery manager piloted West Ham to a magnificent seventh place finish in the Premier League. Moreover, he gave the Hammers’ passionate fan base one of the most stylish stars in the club’s history in the form of Dimitri Payet.

It’s not as if Bilic simply forgot how to manage a football club this summer. He’s still the same man who the club celebrated last season. He deserves the time and opportunity to get things back on track.

Let’s not forget that West Ham were unable to provide Bilic the type of top talent they both agreed the club needed this summer. They chased almost every big-name striker who hit the open market, but only ended up with Simone Zaza. He’s yet to make any sort of impact for the Premier League club and may end up as one of the window’s biggest flops.

Absent of significant investment, expecting West Ham to elevate their performance this year was not an expectation based in logic. It was more of a wish or dream. The higher-ups at the club were asking Bilic to build on what was already an overachieving campaign.