One of football’s slickest managers is taking on the West Ham job

The earring, the passion and a love of heavy metal. Yep, new West Ham manager Slavan Bilic is a good deal different to his predecessor, Sam Allardyce. Bilic was one of the most enjoyable sights in football when he patrolled the touchline as Croatian coach, living and dying with every goal as his side upset England to qualify for Euro 2008. He hasn't reached that level since, having also coached Lokomotiv Moscow and Besiktas at club level, but it is still an exciting appointment if you are a West Ham fan. http://twitter.com/whufc_official/status/608237918143029248 This grainy video footage is shocking, but you can JUST about make out Bilic in one of his madcap celebrations that should be great fun to watch next season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqQ2Td9yZP4 Bilic actually played as a defender for West Ham in the 1996/97 season before moving onto Everton where he played for four more seasons. It is pretty surprising that it has taken Bilic this long to reach the Premier League but it will be interesting to see how much of an improvement he makes with West Ham. After all, Big Sam didn't do THAT badly, did he?