Karren Brady: 'No plans to sack Slaven Bilic'

West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady has denied speculation that the club are preparing to sack Slaven Bilic.

A number of managers have been linked with taking over at the London Stadium in the last week, including Rafael Benitez, David Wagner and Jaap Stam, following a run of form that has seen the Hammers lose their last three Premier League games.

Responding to the rumours in her column for The Sun, Brady wrote: "I have a two-word answer to people who are listing candidates for Slaven Bilic's job — SHUT UP!

"We like our manager and we rate him, so we are planning to keep him at West Ham. Those poison-penned pundits who say they know, don't.

"Our board have never been wanton sackers. When we part company with a manager, it is for what we believe are good reasons. Yes, we have had some defensive problems, but I'm sure he'll deal with those.

"Our move to the London Stadium was always going to be testing for the players. And if Slaven is the boss we believe him to be, he'll soon bring back the exciting style he brought to West Ham when we appointed him at the start of last season."

West Ham finished seventh under Bilic last season but currently sit 12th in the table, 17 points adrift of seventh-placed Everton.