Five reasons why Slaven Bilic deserves a new deal this summer

West Ham United are now mathematically safe and will be playing Premier League football next season.

Survival was clinched with an emphatic 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at The London Stadium last Friday night.

Now that there is more certainty surrounding West Ham’s future, decisions can be made on our future beyond the end of the season.

This includes the future of Slaven Bilic.

Much speculation has surrounded the future of the Croatian after a disappointing second season with West Ham.

When he joined in summer 2015, Bilic penned a three year deal in East London and he will be entering the final year of his contract next season – if he is still here.

This will alert some clubs who are looking to appoint a new manager on the cheap.

With plenty of speculation surrounding the future of Slaven Bilic, I look at five reasons why we should keep him as our manager and offer him a new contract in the summer…

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Short memories

Those calling for Slaven Bilic’s sacking after this season might be forgetting our recent history of managers.

We have had some shocking bosses in recent years; Glenn Roeder, Gianfranco Zola and Glenn Roeder are just three that immediately spring to mind.

Perhaps Bilic needs to be given more respect for the job that he has done with West Ham so far.

Fend off interest

As he enters the final year of his contract, Bilic might start considering other clubs if they can offer him a longer deal.

Fenerbahce are one club who want Bilic and this might be a tempting offer for the former Besiktas manager.

Giving Bilic a new deal would fend off interest or demand that any club pays us more compensation for his services.

Lack of alternatives

If we do decide to let Bilic leave in the summer, who can we realistically bring in?

This report suggests that Roberto Mancini, Rafa Benitez and Slavisa Jokanovic are on our radar.

Benitez is unlikely to leave Newcastle for West Ham, Jokanovic is unproven and Mancini is on the decline.

Unless we have a really good manager lined up as Bilic’s replacement, sacking him makes no sense.

Loyalty

We should give Bilic a new deal because we owe him some loyalty.

He has bought into the club and the philosophy, excited the fans with improved football and delivered better results than Allardyce, who was given longer than two years at the helm.

A new contract is the real vote of confidence that Bilic needs to get us back up the league.

Circumstances

Bilic has taken a lot of blame for this season’s shortcomings and he has to take some responsibility for a few poor decisions.

But most of the problems this season have come as a result of circumstances out of his control.

The move to the London Stadium hasn’t helped, the absence of Dimitri Payet was a blow and more injuries to our strikers have also held our progress back.

Bilic needs to be given more time to overcome these circumstances and prove his managerial credentials.