Despite putting the final nail in Bob Bradley's coffin with a 4-1 victory at the Liberty Stadium, West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has let rip on Swansea for sacking the American after just 11 games in charge.
Bradley, to his credit, came out fighting live on radio yesterday, explaining how he was "pissed off" to have been given so little time to turn Swansea's season around. It would appear Bilic, too, was annoyed at the Welsh club's treatment of Bradley, who despite almost leading Le Havre to promotion in France last season, couldn't seem to quite shake the stigma against American 'soccer' coaches in English football.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's trip to Leicester, Bilic - who himself has come under pressure this season - said:
He didn't get a fair chance at Swansea. It was a short amount of time.
It depended totally on luck the people expecting something of you in two months. That was not with a pre-season, they had a game in five days then two days. He didn't have any time.
I'm not a friend of any of that kind of culture towards managers. I feel for everyone of them.
I know he has a good manager with a good CV and is very hard working. He believes in himself. I saw his side played with confidence which is hard to maintain when you are down.
For me it [is] not the solution for Swansea to have so many managers.
The Croatian manager also explained that he enjoyed a traditional post-match drink with his American counterpart in the latter's office at the Liberty Stadium, and it was then he learned it would be Bradley's final game in charge of the Swans.
As such, he wasn't surprised, but was simply thoroughly disappointed at hearing the news confirmed on Tuesday:
I wasn't shocked, we spoke after the game in his office. His whole life is in football. He was disappointed definitely. So was I.
The 58-year-old Bradley departs with Swansea second-from-bottom in the Premier League standings, four points from safety.
[Star]
