Slaven Bilic reveals Wayne Rooney talks as he reflects on West Ham United tenure
Slaven Bilic has admitted that the move to the London Stadium had a huge impact on his West Ham United team, as he reflects on his spell in East London.
The Croatian was in charge of the Hammers between 2015 and 2017 and nearly masterminded qualification to the Champions League as he led the Irons to seventh place in his first season before overseeing the transition from Upton Park to the London Stadium.
But looking back on his time with West Ham, Bilic has been open about the issues the stadium move caused his team and revealed a conversation he had with Wayne Rooney over the change of stadium.
Speaking to The Coaches Voice (12 November) he said: “The club changed the training ground, from Chadwell Heath to Rush Green. At the same time, we changed the stadium, too. West Ham definitely benefited from that, but it needed time to settle.
“The Olympic Stadium was more like an arena. It was like going from a dirty, popular pub to a fancy bar in Mayfair. I spoke with Wayne Rooney when I was at West Brom, and he told me at Manchester United they used to say: ‘Who are we playing next? West Ham away? Oh my God.’ They didn’t look forward to going there, it was a bit intimidating.
“But when we played at the Olympic Stadium, I saw Sergio Agüero an hour and a half before the game, looking around. He couldn’t wait to play a game there.”
Finally settled
It is safe to say that the London Stadium has finally begun to feel like home for West Ham after an impressive few seasons under the management of David Moyes, but much of the groundwork was laid by Bilic during his time in East London.
Upton Park was a horrible place for teams to go, it was an intimidating ground where the crowd would be on top of you and keen to let you know their thoughts. That ensured that the supporters would well and truly be the team’s 12th man on a matchday.
Moyes has begun to bring that same feeling to the London Stadium, with teams beginning to dread visiting West Ham as they know that they’ll be in for a tough game against a side that is typically hard to break down.
It may not be because of Bilic’s work, but the Croatian brought some much-needed stability to the club during the move to the London Stadium and he must fall near Moyes among the best West Ham managers of the modern era.
In other West Ham news, one Sky Sports pundit was left stunned by a magnificent moment from Alphonse Areola against Nottingham Forest