West Ham's Gold plays down talk of Bilic departure
REUTERS - West Ham United joint-chairman David Gold has dismissed media reports suggesting Slaven Bilic will be replaced at the end of the season, insisting that the club's board have "no issues" with the manager.
Bilic has come under increasing pressure with West Ham on a five-game winless run in the Premier League and media reports have touted Huddersfield Town manager David Wagner and Reading boss Jaap Stam as possible successors to the Croatian.
"There is no issue between me and the board and Slaven, and I go to every board meeting, and in the board there have been no discussions over Slaven -- he's our manager we all like him, he's a great guy," Gold told reporters on Thursday.
"There's no issues. There never has been a new contract on the table. He still has the rest of this season and next season."
Bilic has also had to deal with a host of off-field incidents such as moving to the London Stadium, fan unrest, crowd trouble and Dimitri Payet's transfer to Olympique de Marseille in January.
"He's had a tough season, we accept that. He's had stadium issues outside of his control. He's had Payet issues... He's had injury issues," the 80-year-old Gold added.
West Ham, who are currently 12th in the table, nine points above the relegation zone, will look to end a three-game losing streak when they travel to 19th-placed Hull City on Saturday.
(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru)