West Brom have sacked head coach Slaven Bilic just one day after their impressive draw against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium.
The Baggies pulled off one of the surprise results of the season by earning a 1-1 draw away at City on Tuesday night, with a Ruben Dias own goal cancelling out Ilkay Gundogan’s opener in the first half.
Despite seeing his side pick up a credible point in Manchester, Bilic has now been relieved of his managerial duties, with West Brom confirming his departure via their website.
“West Bromwich Albion have today parted company with head coach Slaven Bilic,” an official statement released by the club on Wednesday reads.
“Assistant coaches, Dean Racunica and Danilo Butorovic, and first-team coach Julian Dicks have also left the club with immediate effect.
“Albion would like to thank Slaven and his coaching staff for their efforts in achieving promotion last season and wishes them all well in the future.
“The club will make no further comment at this time.”
The draw with City did little to lift the mood of doom surrounding the club after a poor start to the 2020-21 campaign, but Bilic was pleased with his team’s performance at the Etihad and called for them to carry that level of determination forward for the rest of the season in his post-match interview.
“We defended brilliantly, it’s a great point but more than that it shows we know what we have to do in every game,” he said.
“We are defending for our lives, ready to die for each other on the pitch and that’s all I can ask.”
However, the Croatian will not see in the new year with the West Midlands-based outfit, who are languishing down in 19th in the current Premier League standings having only won one of their opening 13 fixtures.
The Baggies are two points adrift of 17th-placed Burnley with a tough home clash against Aston Villa up next on Sunday, with former Bolton and England manager Sam Allardyce reportedly the frontrunner to replace Bilic in the Hawthorns dugout.
