Thursday 2 March 2017 10:47, UK
West Ham are close to agreeing a deal to give manager Slaven Bilic a new contract at the end of the season.
The Croat, who replaced Sam Allardyce as manager in June 2015, has 15 months left on his current three-year deal.
Talks about a new improved deal were due to take place before Christmas, but were postponed after West Ham's poor start to the season. However, results have improved significantly since then and Bilic is set to be rewarded.
The Hammers boss has said, however, that he is not obsessing about it and remains focused on the next few games in hand.
"I spoke a few times about my contract and I am very happy with the way I approach that situation," he said on Thursday.
"I have a contract and I am very happy here, and I always treat my next few games as my contract, and I don't think that much about it.
"Of course it would be nice but I have a year-and-a-half left on my contract. Nowadays in football if you have that or four years left there is no difference at all.
"The last example of Claudio Ranieri is the biggest and best one. If you asked anyone in or related to football who has the safest job, we would all say 100 per cent Ranieri. And then what happened with that?
"So I am not bothered about that to be fair."
Since the start of December, West Ham have won six and drawn two of 11 Premier League games.
As well as better performances on the pitch, the West Ham board have been impressed with the way Bilic handled the acrimonious sale of Dimitri Payet to Marseille last month.
They also demonstrated their faith in Bilic by making significant funds available for the signings of Jose Fonte from Southampton and Robert Snodgrass from Hull City.
Bilic will be given more money to spend this summer, with a striker and a right back top of his shopping list.
