Looking Back at Slaven Bilic's Career so Far

West Ham United’s new man in charge, Slaven Bilic, is a familiar face in the Premier League from his playing days with the Hammers and Everton.

Since retiring in 2001, Bilic has taken charge of five different teams at both club and international level before joining the Hammers.

Here, we’ll assess his career chronologically, looking at each assignment individually to discuss whether his time at each was a success and how each experience may impact on his reign at Upton Park.

Bilic’s first managerial job was at the club where he spent the bulk of his playing career, Hajduk Split.

Traditionally one of his native Croatia’s most successful clubs, Bilic was on the board of directors and took over on an interim basis midway through the 2001/02 season.

Bilic handled the pressure of taking over one of the biggest clubs in the country admirably, winning 11 of his 17 games in charge, according to the Daily Mail.

While it wasn’t enough to win the league title, it established Bilic as a promising young manager.

After a brief hiatus following his departure from Hajduk Split, Bilic took charge of his country’s under-21 team in 2004, tasked with achieving qualification to the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Despite being drawn into a tough group with the likes of Hungary, Sweden and Bulgaria, Croatia performed extremely well, winning eight of their 10 games and losing just once, topping the group in the process.

This meant they won the right to host the first leg of their qualification play-off at home, where they met fierce rivals Serbia. This proved to be one step too far, however, as the young Croatian side collapsed to a 5-2 aggregate loss.

This failure at the final hurdle will be something of a worry for Hammers fans given the intense pressure of the Premier League, pressure which the Hammers' impending move to the Olympic Stadium will only compound.

Despite his chastening experience with the country's under-21 squad, the upper echelons of the Croatian Football Federation saw enough to promote Bilic to the head coach of the full national team.

Once again, his appointment coincided with the start of the qualification period for the European Championship.

Bilic was again faced with an intimidating qualification group for Euro 2008, including the likes of Russia, England and Israel. However, Croatia eventually topped the group following a string of outstanding results, burnishing Bilic’s burgeoning reputation further.

With such an impressive qualification campaign under his belt, almost whatever he achieved at the championships would have been a bonus. As it transpired, Croatia won all their group games, including beating Germany before bowing out on penalties to Turkey.

While international and club management differ in some fundamental ways, Bilic’s time at Croatia speaks for itself, despite failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. He left his post after the team’s group-stage exit at the 2012 European Championships, which followed another promising qualification campaign.

After leaving his post, Bilic was one of the most sought-after managers in the game. He was immediately hired as coach of Lokomotiv Moscow, which took many by surprise given the interest he was receiving elsewhere.

However, despite Lokomotiv Moscow’s relative financial clout—Bilic signed Croatian Vedran Corluka for £5.5 million, according to the Daily Mail—Bilic was unable to lead the club to the Russian Premier League title.

In fact, Lokomotiv’s ninth-placed finish was the club’s worst since the formation of the league in 1992, as noted by the Guardian. Bilic was sacked at the end of the season, marking an ignominious return to club football.

Despite his surprising failure at Lokomotiv, Turkish side Besiktas were quick to seize upon the newly available Bilic.

The Istanbul club, traditionally one of the most successful in Turkey, had found themselves struggling to compete with Fenerbahce and Galatasaray and identified the Croatian as the man to take charge.

In both his seasons at the club, Bilic guided the Black Eagles to third place, a respectable return of which he had every right to feel proud. His time in Turkey has done much to rehabilitate his image and revitalise his standing in world football.

He faced greater expectations with Besiktas than he is likely to at West Ham, but the pressure from Upton Park’s notoriously demanding patrons is likely to be just as intense.