The Croat on how he is enjoying life at West Brom and why his wife thinks he is ‘a pain in the arse’ when he doesn’t have a jobSlaven Bilic is rowing back to the early days of his West Ham United reign and the time he felt compelled to alter the pre-match playlist in his fourth league game in charge, a fruitful trip to
Liverpool – their first win at Anfield for 52 years – following successive defeats. “Roy Keane said it can’t be Abba [playing] before a game and I agree with that. Before the game, we are all in the dressing room and before they go out Red Red Wine [is playing] from UB40,” Bilic says, placing his hands on his temples in exasperation. “And I’m like, Red Red Wine? That’s for a romantic dinner – not for Anfield. It is not like a war song. I said ‘sorry lads’ and put on something ‘medium’, like Whiskey in the Jar, the Metallica version. Three-nil. After that I didn’t interrupt.”
Bilic’s final game in charge of West Ham was against Liverpool more than two years later but in June he returned to
England after being appointed West Bromwich Albion’s head coach following a short spell in Saudi Arabia. A charismatic character with a bushy beard and an infectious smile, Bilic makes captivating company over more than an hour at the club’s training ground, a base he says “smells of football”.