Premier League / Nik Wardle / 04 September 2008 / Leave a comment

The Croatian boss has said he wants to lead his country to the next World Cup but a bad result and big money offer could change his mind, says "Knowledgeable" Nik Wardle.

Alan Curbishly has become the Premier League's first managerial casualty of the season and two ex-Hammers are amongst the favourites to replace him. Who does largely depends upon who fancies working at a club where the manager seemingly doesn't decide who he buys and sells. And for the first time ever, the odds are that West Ham will appoint a non-British boss.

Firstly I must say I admire Curbishly for resigning. Many in his position would have hung on until they were sacked (which I think was inevitable), in order to get their contract paid up. The fact he kept West Ham up a couple of seasons ago shouldn't be forgotten, nor should the improvement West Ham made last year in finishing mid-table. True, he did spend decent money on several injury-prone players but all-in-all; I think he leaves the club with his reputation in tact.

Ex-player Slaven Bilic is the current favourite at [5.6]. He has reiterated his desire to lead Croatia to the World Cup but who knows what a bad result at home to England in the upcoming qualifying game could do to his thinking - as well as a huge contract offer. He's galvanised Croatia in a similar way that Jurgen Klinsmann did to Germany and would be a popular appointment with the West Ham fans.

Paolo Di Canio is one of the all-time cult heroes at West Ham and is the second favourite at [7.8]. He has no managerial experience but has recently taken his coaching badges. He's already stated his desire for the post and is likely to be prepared to work alongside Technical Director Gianluca Nani in order to get the role.

Another Italian, Roberto Mancini, has odds of [8.6]. I'd be surprised if he was interested as a man who led Inter Milan to consecutive Serie A titles is likely to hold out for a bigger job.

Despite their history of appointing British managers I doubt West Ham will do so this time around. Of the British managers linked with the job Sam Allardyce is at [13.5] but although he's itching to get back in the game, like Curbishly, he's unlikely to want someone else to tell him who to buy and sell and Harry Redknapp (26.0) has already ruled himself out.

Of the others, Avram Grant (22.0) would be an interesting appointment but given his Chelsea links, wouldn't be popular with the fans to begin with; Michael Laudrup (22.0) is available, did well at Brondby and Gatafe, and seeing as he was tempted by the Blackburn Rovers job, may be interested; Technical Director Gianluca Nani (30) has no previous managerial experience and would be foolish to leave his comfortable post for the hot seat.

It's only two years since The Hammers signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano - leading the club and supporters to talk of Champions League ambitions. Back then, getting the West Ham job would've seemed like one of the plum posts in European football, now whoever takes the job will have to work on a strict budget and aim to raise the flagging aspirations of loyal fans. It remains to be seen who the board have up their sleeve but given the current ownership and managerial structure, I'd be surprised if he was British.