West Ham have confirmed Slaven Bilic as their new manager to replace Sam Allardyce on a three-year deal.

The former defender spent 18 months as a player at Upton Park and has previous managerial experience with Hajduk Split, Croatia and Besiktas, who he left last month having guided them to third place in the Turkish Super Lig.

The club's co-owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, and the vice-chairman, Karren Brady, interviewed Bilic over the weekend, with the 46-year-old having made clear his desire to return to east London.

They had explored numerous options since the departure of Allardyce and had hoped to lure Rafael Benitez until the former Liverpool manager was unveiled by Real Madrid.

David Moyes and Carlo Ancelotti were also sounded out, while Sevilla's Unai Emery and Lekhwiya's Michael Laudrup have opted instead to extend respective contracts at their current clubs.

(Guardian service)