Slaven Bilic has emerged as the shock favourite to succeed
Martin O’Neill at Aston Villa.
The Croatia coach was expected to be in the frame to follow
Gianfranco Zola at West Ham this summer.
But in an unexpected twist, Bilic has dramatically pulled out
the race to become the Hammers’ next boss amid claims he’s in pole
position to become manager at a bigger Premier League club.
O’Neill’s position at Villa Park hangs in the balance amid
rumours of his uneasy relationship with owner Randy Lerner/
His failure to alleviate fears of his departure to supporters at
an awards dinner last week has merely fuelled speculation that
Villa’s game today against Blackburn will be his last.
Bilic’s emergence as favourite to succeed O’Neill is a bolt out
of the blue.
Mark Hughes, the former Manchester City boss, has been widely
tipped to replace O’Neill while David Moyes at Everton and even
former England coach Steve McClaren have been touted as possible
targets.
Bilic has made no secret of the fact that he expects to move
into club management after a successful spell as Croatia’s national
coach.