Send for Slaven: West Ham go for Croatia coach after Curbishley exit

Target: West Ham want Bilic

Slaven Bilic will be approached to take over at following Alan Curbishley's dramatic resignation.

Former Hammers central defender Bilic, now preparing Croatia for World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and England, is the overwhelming choice of chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and chief executive Scott Duxbury.

He may take some prising away but, even if he stays put, West Ham's interest could prove a welcome boost to Fabio Capello by unsettling the Croats as they prepare to face England in Zagreb next Wednesday.

It emerged last night that after initially accepting Curbishley's resignation, Duxbury called him urging him to reconsider.

This, Sportsmail understands, came when Duxbury realised the club would have to pay sizeable compensation because of contract provision giving Curbishley a veto on players arriving and leaving, although not on the financial side of any deal.

Bilic, 39, said: 'I always said that, if I come back to English football, I want it to be as manager of West Ham, but I have a contract with Croatia until 2010 and intend to honour it.'

Despite Bilic's loyalty to his country, the Hammers believe they will be able to tempt him with a contract worth more than £1.5million a year, almost 20 times his current salary of around £81,000. The fallback target remains Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, who was in charge at Upton Park from 1994 to 2001.

Curbishley was on borrowed time once a deputation of three senior players went above his head and complained to Duxbury about the coaching methods of the manager's right-hand man Mervyn Day.

That began a sequence of events which eventually led to Curbishley, who believes he has a watertight compensation claim over the remaining two years of his contract, telling Duxbury that his position had become untenable.

Happy Hammer: Slaven Bilic in his playig days

Curbishley, who accused the club of breaching 'trust and confidence' after his dramatic walk-out, claims players were sold by the club in direct contravention of his contract.

He said: 'The selection of players is critical to the job of the manager and I had an agreement with the club that I alone would determine the composition of the squad.

'However, the club continued to make significant player decisions without involving me. In the end such a breach of trust and confidence meant I had no option but to leave. Nevertheless, I wish the club and the players every success in the future.'

Anton Ferdinand was sold to Sunderland above his head last week and, although Curbishley was given sufficient confidence by the board to declare that the defender would be the last departure in the transfer window, George McCartney was subsequently sold without his approval.

Curbishley then asked his agent Phil Smith, the League Managers' Association and his own lawyers to scrutinise his contract when he feared he was keeping the seat warm for a potential replacement.

He is convinced the club have broken the veto clause in the deal he signed when he returned from a six-month sabbatical following his decade at Charlton in December 2006.

Bobby Zamora, rated by Curbishley as the best striker at West Ham when he arrived in 2006, still maintains that he was sold to Fulham behind the manager's back in the summer. John Pantsil also moved to Craven Cottage but the departures of Ferdinand and McCartney proved the final straws.

Ferdinand has blossomed into a decent Barclays Premier League defender and Curbishley wanted his performances to be rewarded with a new contract.

When it became clear that the club would not match the £60,000 a week on offer at Sunderland, the board took the decision to sell the central defender for £8m.

Curbishley was in the same room as Duxbury when they discussed McCartney. Although the player's homesick wife wanted to move back to the north east, it is understood they agreed he would not be sold.

Hours later, it emerged that McCartney had been given permission to hold talks with Sunderland manager Roy Keane and that prompted Curbishley to offer his resignation.

Duxbury told the manager he was pleased with his work and wanted him to carry on, but it was clear that Curbishley no longer trusted the chief executive.