West Ham United have confirmed Slaven Bilic as the club’s new manager.
The Croat spent 18 months with the club as a player and last month left his role as Besiktas coach after they finished third in the Turkish top flight.
“I’m really glad to be back with West Ham United,” said Bilic. “It’s a big challenge and you are competing with the best and what better club to do it with than West Ham.
“I remember West Ham as a special club. I love these kinds of special clubs. It’s not about the size – West Ham is big club – there is something specialtere about them – they are a cult club.”
“It is a great place to play and I felt like I was at home. It is a big privilege and a big responsibility to now be manager and I hope that I will prove it to the board, players and fans.”
Bilic succeeds Sam Allardyce, who was sacked at the end of last season after guiding the side to a 12th-placed finish.
He becomes the 15th person to be named full-time manager at Boleyn Geound in its 120-year history.
Belic led Croatia to qualification for the 2008 European championship, where they advanced into the quarter-final. Croatia, however, did not qualify for the 2010 World Cup but made it to Euro 2012, where they were ousted in the group stages.
The 46-year-old has also coached Hajduk Split, Lokomotiv Moscow and Besiktas, who he left in May.
A club statement read: “He becomes the second Croatian to manage in the Barclays Premier League, and has an outstanding career win percentage of 55.16%.
“A law graduate and multilinguist who takes a meticulous approach to management, the new boss will arrive in London later this month following a family holiday, but has already begun preparations for West Ham’s maiden Uefa Europa League campaign.”
The Premier League club had recently shown interest in Olympic Marseilles coach Marcelo Bielsa, but report suggests the Argentine was due to hold talks with the French club on Monday over a new contract and appears likely to sign an extension.
