Burton - Slaven is a gentleman

burton
Andy Burton is one of the main reporters on Sky Sports News and has been covering West Ham United for a number of years.

Burton has enjoyed a good working relationship with Slaven Bilic from his time as Croatia boss and his time in charge of Besiktas.

And with the Club's big move into the new Stadium, Burton has no doubts that Bilic can help to get the best out of his players once again and they can enjoy another memorable season....

I really like Slaven and talking to him. I will never forget speaking to him back at Euro 2012 and we did a 12 hour round-trip just to interview him ahead of the Croatia v Ireland game.

We were based in Sopot and had to drive down to their base which was near Warsaw and set off at 7am on the long drive down.

It turned out to be an epic road-trip as the sat nav was taking us down down roads which were not even finished!

When we arrived Slaven gave us a great interview and when I told him the efforts we had made to get there, he was made us feel even more at home. I think to this day he still remembers my effort.

I was at the press conference to preview the Watford game and as always he is a real gentleman and always gives you an answer, no matter what the question is.

I really believe the season starts now for West Ham as they now have eight winnable games against teams who they should probably finish above.

Add to that the fact they are getting back all their big name players like Payet and Lanzini and the key is now keeping them fit and getting them back playing together well.

The start of the season has been disrupted because of the injuries but there is a new feel about the team on Saturday and we should see Simone Zaza make his debut.

Slaven had a big smile on his face when he was asked about the prospect of Zaza playing and I think that shows how much he is looking forward to seeing the Italy international in action.

Any club will want to do better than what they achieved last year and it is a realistic aim for the Hammers to have another good finish with the investment they have made and the big move into the new Stadium.

With all the players coming back into the side I expect West Ham to beat Watford on Saturday and I really hope that Michail Antonio continues his good start to the season because he deserved his call-up to the squad.