Slaven Bilic will leave the academy manager Terry Westley in charge of West Ham United for the club’s Europa League match against FC Lusitans of Andorra on Thursday night, as the Croat effectively delays his managerial bow at the east London club.
Bilic was appointed on 9 June as the successor to Sam Allardyce and the club said in a statement he would “arrive in London later in the month following a family holiday but he has already begun preparations for West Ham’s maiden Europa League campaign”.
The 46-year-old was expected to take for the game against the Andorran league runners-up in the first leg of the first qualifying round but he is currently in Ireland, where he is overseeing a training camp with some of the first-team players. He linked with up the squad last Friday.
Bilic will return in time for the tie at Upton Park, which has sold out in anticipation of his first game, but it will be Westley who is in charge in the dugout. The lineup will be made up of a mixture of first-team players and under-21s. Bilic is expected to watch from the stands – rather like a manager who takes over in mid-season does in his first match, with the caretaker or assistant in charge of the team.
Westley said: “When there was a change in management at the end of last season and we knew that we had qualified for Europe [via the Fair Play League] we couldn’t just sit back and not do anything. We had to put plans in place.
“With the other senior staff we’ve done that, looking towards the European fixture so early, and great credit to those staff. It will be a privilege and an honour to play a role on Thursday and when you think the game will be a sellout, it shows that it has caught the imagination of everyone. I see my role as helping Slaven integrate with the group and the team, making that transition as smooth as possible and he will come back for the game on Thursday. He’s the manager.
“He’s very interested in seeing some of the younger players and he’s also got some senior players in this team, who will be part of his squad that he’ll want to keep a close eye on. He will be with the team and in the dressing room and a big part of what we’re trying to do on Thursday.
“We’re doing all we can to support him and our job is to get over the first qualifying round. With the manager integrating his staff and senior players, who are in Ireland, that’s a win-win.”
