West Bromwich Albion’s long search for a new head coach is now finally over, as the club have confirmed that former Croatia and West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has now signed a deal at The Hawthorns.
After the initial speculation linking us with former Wolfsburg manager Bruno Labbadia, Bilic quickly seemed to establish himself as the firm favourite in the press and with claims earlier in the week that a deal was now close, albeit still unsigned, earlier today Sky Sports confirmed it was now official and the 50-year-old had agreed a two year deal with us.
Introducing #SuperSlav ðŸ‡ðŸ‡· pic.twitter.com/3IBW0pbVFJ
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) June 13, 2019
On his announcement, Bilic said.
“I’m delighted with this opportunity of course. We want to improve, we want to improve on the pitch and Albion have convinced me they want to return to the Premier League. Albion have a short-term project and a long project and they do not clash. They wanted me to lead them, to help improve them. They made it clear they wanted me to be the one to lead them in this and I didn’t think twice once they had spoken to me.”
With him now being in place, it should give the fanbase a boost as he was preferred by many as the top candidate once Labbadia links disappeared, and he does, of course, carry good experience with him but we all know he has a hell of a job to do here now.
So given his words above, he certainly sounds like he’s coming into the club with his eyes wide open on what he can and can’t do, so that has to give some confidence.
Now to strengthening the group as that will tell fans an awful lot.
