West Ham sack Slaven Bilic with former Everton and Man U boss Moyes tipped to replace him

WEST Ham have sacked manager Slaven Bilic in what became inevitable following the Hammers' 1-4 loss at home to Liverpool on Saturday with former Everton and Manchester United boss David Moyes tipped as the frontrunner to replace him.

Currently sitting in 18th place on the 20-team league table, West Ham gave suffered a string of embarrassing defeats lately and the weekend loss was the last straw. Of late, the Hammers have shown very little fighting spirit, with the players exhibiting lethargy, prompting the club to do away with Bilic, adding that it believed a change was necessary to move forward positively and in line with its ambition.

Mr Bilic said: "There are no hard feelings and I can be very proud of my work here. We didn't start this crucial season well and as in many clubs across Europe, the manager is the one who pays the price, so it's a very logical move."

With 11 matches gone so far this season Mr Bilic is the fourth Premier League manager to be sacked following Frank de Boer at Crystal Palace, Ronald Koeman of Everton and Craig Shakespeare at Leicester City. Mr Bilic's coaching assistants Nikola Jurcevic, Edin Terzic, Julian Dicks and Miljenko Rak have also left the club with immediate effect.

Only Chris Woods, who was goalkeeping coach under Mr Moyes at Everton and United, remains as a member of West Ham's coaching staff. A statement from joint West Ham chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold said Mr Bilic had conducted himself with honesty and integrity and the decision to sack him had been made with disappointment and heavy hearts.

"We see this as an exciting opportunity to appoint a quality manager to the position to inject fresh ideas, organisation and enthusiasm into a very talented squad.  The search for a new manager to take West Ham United forward is under way and an announcement regarding Bilic's successor is expected to be made over the coming days," they added.

Former Croatian defender Bilic, 49, guided West Ham to seventh spot in his first season in charge, but an 11th-placed finish last term, their first at their new home the London Stadium, has been followed by a poor start this season. In the current campaign, they have won just two Premier League matches in and lost their first three league games.

West Ham's next match is at Watford on Sunday, 19 November. Mr Moyes has, however, denied there had been contact but said he wanted to return to club management and was interested in the West Ham job.