LONDON // West Ham have interviewed the former Italy internationals Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Donadoni for their vacant manager's job. The club confirmed the former Italian national coach Donadoni and the former Chelsea striker Zola have visited the club for talks and the Hammers hope to speak to at least another two high-profile candidates before appointing a successor to Alan Curbishley. The West Ham director Mike Lee said Zola and Donadoni, who stepped down as Italy coach following the team's disappointing quarter-final exit from this year's European Championship, "really shone" in interviews this week.
Michael Laudrup and the former West Ham defender Slaven Bilic, current coach of Croatia, are also under consideration to succeed Curbishley, who quit this week and accused the club's board of selling players against his wishes, although Bilic has indicated that he is unlikely to step down from his position while the team are trying to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. "With Donadoni and Zola, and potentially Laudrup, we have some very exciting candidates," Mr Lee told BBC Radio 5 on Sunday.
"But if Bilic wasn't available until January, that would rule him out." Mr Lee said the Hammers still want to speak to Bilic, 39, who played for West Ham in the 1990s and has forged a strong Croatia team in his first managerial position, in an attempt to persuade him to quit his country and accept the Upton Park manager's job. "That is a discussion that would have to take place with the Croatian FA and with Slaven himself," Mr Lee said, adding that there would be no contact with Bilic until after Croatia's World Cup qualifier against England on Wednesday.
West Ham have already ruled out John Collins after interviewing the former Scotland midfielder, so Zola and Donadoni appear to be the front-runners. The former Denmark forward Laudrup will meet with the club's officials tomorrow, but West Ham sporting director Gianluca Nani looks to favour appointing a fellow Italian. Zola, who in a seven-year stint with Chelsea earned himself a reputation as one of the club's greatest ever players, is joint coach of Italy's under-21 team but is inexperienced at club level.
*AP
