Hammers will wait to offer Slaven Bilic a new deal
Friday 25 March 2016 09:46, UK
Slaven Bilic will be offered a new contract by West Ham in January after he has proved he is not a "one-season wonder."
Bilic has impressed at Upton Park since taking over from Sam Allardyce in June, guiding the Hammers to fifth place in the Premier League with eight games to go and through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
The former Croatia boss, 47, signed a three-year contract when he joined the Hammers but is set to be handed a new deal in 2017 - providing he proves this season was not just a flash in the pan.
West Ham joint-chairman David Sullivan said in The Mirror: "I will give Slaven a new deal in January.
"I just want to see that he is not a one-season wonder. I'm sure he is not, but we will talk next January - or at the end of next season.
"I have to tell you that he is interested in the project, not money.
"He stayed at Croatia on £2,000 a week for five years when he would have had bundles of offers. He is not really into money. He is more interested in getting the best players for the club than the best money for himself."
Sullivan has admitted it was a risk to hand their former defender his first managerial job in England, but believes it is a gamble that has paid off "several times this season."
"We took a gamble to change managers, we went away from safety, chasing a dream," Sullivan added in The Daily Express.
"We took someone with no track record in England, with a pretty good track record abroad but it was still perceived as a gamble by most pundits. He has proved himself several times this season."
