Former West Ham Manager Slaven Bilic Reveals He Regrets Not Leaving the Club After 2016/17 Campaign

Former West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has revealed he feels he should've left the club at the end of the 2016/17 season, after he guided the Hammers to an 11th place finish.

After his first season in London surpassed all expectations, guiding West Ham to the Europa League qualifiers, the Croatian manager was able to keep his side safe from the drop and guide them to a comfortable mid-table finish.

However, his reputation with West Ham supporters was quickly soured following an abysmal start to the following season, seeing his side falter in the league and being threatened with relegation to the Championship.

Subsequently, Bilic was sacked and replaced with former Everton and Manchester United manager David Moyes, who has since guided the Hammers away from the drop zone.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live about his two years in charge at the club, Bilic revealed he made a mistake by not leaving the club in May last year.

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"The first two seasons I see as a big success and I am very proud of them, the first one we broke so many records, the second one I wouldn't swap it for the first one because with all those problems with surgery, moving the stadium, at the end we managed well.

"And then I probably made a mistake, I should have left to be fair, I should have left after the second season.

"I didn't start from zero, I started already in minus if you add to that three away games, the games were away games and a lot of players who didn't do pre-season because of their injuries and surgeries.

"It ended as it ended. No alibis, no excuses but if I had this knowledge then I would make some things a little bit different."