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da luck： West Ham United almost appointed Marcelo Bielsa as manager prior to the hiring of Slaven Bilic, according to reliable source Ex-West Ham United Employee.
Bielsa, of course, is now managing Leeds United and is attempting to guide his side to promotion to the Premier League.
What’s the word?
Bilic was appointed to succeed Sam Allardyce after a truly dismal season at Upton Park.
The Croatian was a former player and lasted two years at the helm.
Football FanCast have confirmed that Bielsa was a target prior to Bilic’s appointment, with one highly placed source stating that he had a “reputation for the bizarre”.
Nevertheless, the then-Marseille boss was seen as an attainable, realistic target.
Indeed, at one point, he was considered the club’s top target, though his lack of English was eventually seen as prohibitive.
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Bilic was both fluent in the language and had also played for the Irons before, swaying the board’s thinking and ultimately proving a deciding factor.
Circus avoided
How would West Ham’s team have looked under Bielsa?
It is difficult to envisage the likes of Mark Noble and Andy Carroll thriving under his hard-running, high-pressing regime.
Bilic, though, enjoyed a fine first season and took the Hammers to seventh, though they slipped to 11th the campaign after.
After that, he was sacked and replaced by David Moyes.
Perhaps Bielsa was lucky to avoid the circus at the Hammers – he may not have been given any time at all to embed his methods – and he may well be in the Premier League next season anyway, with Leeds United knocking on the door of automatic promotion.
He can count himself lucky that West Ham moved on to alternative targets.