In 2008 Slaven Bilic told the media West Ham United would be his first choice when he returns to England.

At the time he was manager of the Croatian national team and doing an excellent job so decided to continue with his work instead of coming back to London.

But here we are seven years later. The stars aligned; Bilic was now available – having left Turkish side Besiktas – and West Ham were in search of a manager.

Bilic becomes the 15th Hammers manager and the sixth in the last ten years. I believe he is the perfect fit because Bilic does not just want to manage a Premier League team, he wants to manage West Ham.

There will be negativity from some fans but unfortunately that is just the world we live in now. Some just have a constant downer about the club.

The problem with holding such negative feelings is being proved right becomes more satisfactory than wanting the club to succeed.

I am all for different opinions and welcome the debate on all things West Ham but the constant tactic of some who essentially are waiting to tell fellow supporters "I told you so" ends up consuming you as a football fan.

Any manager West Ham appointed would have been a risk, but risks are what you have to take to attempt to move forward.

Bilic may have left the club as a player under acrimonious circumstances when he joined Everton in 1997 but this is the perfect chance to make amends.

This is a new dawn and I am excited about the new era at the club.

There will be those outside the club who will tell us we should not have sacked Sam Allardyce; the Europa League games will see the club struggle in the Premier League and a relegation battle is on the horizon.

But they can talk till they are blue in the face because I have every confidence West Ham are moving in the right direction.

Bilic will see his team in competitive action early on with the Europa League commencing on July 2.

This is a great chance for West Ham fans to see the club play in Europe – something which has not been seen very often over the last 30 years.

How anyone could not want to be in this competition is beyond me. This is surely what it is all about?

With a manager in place the task now is to boost the quality of the squad which we know is in need of a revamp given the torrid form since the turn of the year.

Most areas of the side need improving and I would also like to see some players leave the club who have surplus to requirements. I would look at Matt Jarvis and Kevin Nolan as two to depart as neither are players who have sufficient quality to improve the side.

The trust will be given to Bilic to make decisions on these players and everything about the man indicates he knows what he is doing.

I would hope, like me, most West Ham fans are desperate to see Bilic succeed and I believe we may have finally found a manager with respect for the club and is actually on our side.

Did supporting West Ham just become exciting again?