David Moyes to take over at West Ham United until the end of the season following Slaven Bilic sacking

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West Ham United have sacked Slaven Bilic two days after the humbling 4-1 defeat by Liverpool, and will install David Moyes as manager until the end of the season.

The Croatian manager has suffered a dismal last 15 months in the job after an initially successful first season in 2015-16, and speculation about his future has never gone away in that time.

The West Ham owners had been reluctant to move on Bilic’s position in that time, especially without a suitable alternative, and had been constantly giving the manager space.

That only led to more speculation over his future, though, and Saturday’s 4-1 home defeat by Liverpool has led to a realisation that the situation is now unfixable and they need to act before getting drawn into a relegation battle by Christmas – something that could come earlier than expected after Everton’s victory over Watford on Sunday saw them rise above the Hammers, who have dropped to 18th and into the bottom three.

“I expected it. There are no hard feelings,” Bilic said as he left the club’s training ground on Monday.

“I can be very proud of my work here. We didn’t start this crucial season well. As in many clubs across Europe, the manager is the one who pays the price.

“[We had] A good or great or very good first season, then the second season was going to be difficult with the change of stadium. This season that we hoped that we would make that step from the start and we just didn’t make it.

“It’s a very logical move. The fans were brilliant to me from the start until the end.”

The Croatian has forged a reputation as being one of the nicest managers in the Premier League, and given that West Ham was one of the clubs that he represented as a player, he was visibly emotional about the decision.

But he did concede that while he would always back himself to drag the club out of trouble if given the rest of the season to turn things around, the recent results suggested otherwise.

“Of course you are always hoping and believe in yourself that you can turn it around, otherwise I wouldn’t be in this job and be at this level,” he added. “But that doesn’t mean that the club didn’t make the right decision.”

Contact has been made through intermediaries with Moyes, who is both eager to get back into management and restore his reputation after a sorry relegation at Sunderland last season and two prior failed jobs at Manchester United and Real Sociedad. West Ham are banking on that resolve reinvigorating both Moyes and the club.

Speaking on Sunday, Moyes made it clear that West Ham would interest him in a return to the Premier League, though it would mean that he will be in for another relegation scrap and also miss out on a return to former club Everton – who are considering candidates for their vacant role after sacking Ronald Koeman last week and placing assistant David Unsworth in interim charge of the first team.

“I've had no contact with West Ham but I've always said I want to go back into club management and if the right opportunity comes around then I'll be interested,” Moyes told Bein Sports.

“I've been there myself; I know what Slaven is going through at the moment. He must be hating it and wanting to get a result as quickly as he can. If it becomes available yes, but at the moment it's not available.”

Phil Neville has been put forward as a possible assistant manager to Moyes but it is understood he would lean towards staying in Spain and continuing his coaching education.