West Ham have confirmed four names are in the
frame to be their new boss - Slaven Bilic, Gianfranco Zola, Roberto
Donadoni and Michael Laudrup.
Hammers director Mike Lee said that both Zola and Donadoni had
impressed hugely in their interviews, while Laudrup will meet club
officials on Monday.
Lee also made it clear that West Ham would not wait until
January for Bilic, though he did not rule out him staying as
Croatia coach on a part-time basis for the October matches.
Lee told BBC Radio Five Live: "There's no favourite at the
moment, we have set up a proper selection process.
"We have been surprised and pleased by the number of
applications we have had and we are moving towards a short
shortlist and ideally have a manager in place in time for the West
Brom match next week.
"Slaven Bilic could potentially be on that shortlist but it
depends very much upon his availability. If for whatever reason he
was not available until January in terms of working with us I'm
afraid that will rule him out.
"We have a very strong shortlist and it's going to be a tough
decision with some exciting candidates.
"From the meetings that have taken place so far the two that
have really shone have been Donadoni and Zola."
West Ham are resigned to waiting until after Croatia's match
against England on Wednesday before they can speak to Bilic, but
would welcome the chance to talk beforehand and have been in
discussions with his representatives.
The fact Zola and Donadoni are Italians could increase their
chances given that West Ham's director of football Gianluca Nani is
a compatriot, and that they would be much happier with the
continental-style working relationship than Alan Curbishley
was.
West Ham's selection process has already ruled out Gerard
Houllier and the former Scotland midfielder John Collins, plus
former Ajax boss Martin Olsen.
