When Slaven Bilic was named as the new manager of West Ham last summer, he was welcomed with open arms by the majority of the club's supporters after becoming a crowd favourite at Upton Park when joining the club as a central defender in 1996. His performances resulted in Everton offering £4.5 million - more than three times the figure West Ham had paid just over a year earlier - for his signature, and the transfer was completed in the summer of 1997. Bilic would never replicate his previous form though, as injuries restricted him to just 28 Premier League appearances in two years. It has since become obvious that Bilic revels in the affinity between himself and the West Ham supporters, and the former Croatian international must wish that he could have ended his playing days at a club who he is guiding to their best campaign in over a decade.
A degree-educated, dart-throwing, non-smelling sports journalist based in a small Staffordshire town that has just become Floyd Mayweather's answer to the question: "What's the strangest place you have ever visited?"
