From the Boardroom - David Gold



What a great week this has been for the football Club.

I know the fans have been anxious to see us put a manager in place but we have had to be measured and timely and made sure that we got the best candidate available and that is what we have done.

Slaven ticked a lot of boxes for us and he is highly respected by a number of people in the game.

He is a former West Ham player which ticked another box and has that affiliation with the Club which is so important.

Slaven has managed at the highest level and performed above expectation when he was in charge of Croatia and also did a great job with Besiktas where he showed his quality as a coach when his side beat Liverpool in the Europa League last season.

The key for us was when we met him face-to-face and he showed passion in the interview and will bring something special as a manager.

Being able to communicate with a manager is so important and I have no doubts that myself, David Sullivan and Karren Brady will have a great working relationship with him.

Slaven will obviously know people from the past and it will be very interesting for me to see who he wants to bring onto his coaching staff.

Our backroom team from last season have obviously moved onto new challenges and this gives an opportunity for someone new to emerge.

I am expecting exciting things and this is a fantastic opportunity for anyone coming into our football Club as this is most arguably the most exciting season period in the club's history as we prepare for our final ever season at the Boleyn Ground before we move into the Olympic Stadium.

No sooner has the ink dried on Slaven's contract and we have been able to announce our first major signing under the new manager.

With Slaven's approval, action has been taken immediately to bring in another quality player and it goes to show the backroom mechanism that we have at West Ham. I certainly hope there are a few more signings to come.

We are showing our intent and we want just want to put a bit of fear into the top teams who have remained unchallenged. We want them to start looking over their shoulder and see a Club like West Ham who want to challenge.