The Besiktas manager had a spell at West Ham as a player in the 90s

Slaven Bilic's name is once again being touted as a possible replacement

There has been little to suggest he will be staying at Upton Park

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is out of contract in the summer

At some clubs, the association with a former manager or player is so strong, so deep, that they can never really move on.

It is an itch, nagging away in the background because results are not coming up to scratch for the supporters who long for days when they were attached to someone special.

Jose Mourinho is perhaps the most notorious example, promising Chelsea supporters that he would one day return to Stamford Bridge after he was sacked by Roman Abramovich in September 2007.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce could be on his way out of Upton Park when the season finishes

Allardyce had Diafra Sakho to thank for a return to winning ways at the weekend

This last-gasp goal from Sakho was enough to see off Sunderland and take the three points

They got their wish in the end when he returned to the club in the summer of 2013.

Further back in time, Howard Kendall twice returned to Everton in an attempt to recreate his successful period at Goodison Park, where he won two league titles, the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the FA Cup.

It was the same at Newcastle United, where Alan Shearer had scored 148 goals in the Barclays Premier League for his boyhood club; Kevin Keegan also returned to St James’ Park for a short stint in 2008.

At Upton Park there is a similar dilemma, with the boardroom once again tempted to turn to Slaven Bilic at the end of the season.

Every so often the momentum for Bilic builds at Upton Park and it is heading that way again because of the annual uncertainty over the future of Sam Allardyce. His name seems to stalk the corridors.

Although Bilic only spent a season as a player at West Ham, his profile has increased over the years by dint of his tussles with England during his successful coaching career with Croatia.

Slaven Bilic, seen here staring down a pitch invader last week as Besiktas crashed out of the Europa League, is continually linked with a return to West Ham as manager, having played for the club in the 1990s

Bilic (left) joined West Ham in 1996 and spent a year there before moving to Premier League rivals Everton

BILIC THE MANAGER Hajduk Split - 2001-02 Played 17 Won 11 Drawn 4 Lost 2 Win % - 64.71 Croatia U21s - 2004-06 Played 18 Won 10 Drawn 2 Lost 6 Win % - 55.56 Croatia - 2006-12 Played 65 Won 42 Drawn 15 Lost 8 Win % - 64.62 Lokomotiv Moscow - 2012-13 Played 31 Won 12 Drawn 7 Lost 12 Win % - 38.71 Besiktas 2013- Played 81 Won 44 Drawn 19 Lost 18 Win % - 54.32 Total Played 212 Won 119 Drawn 47 Lost 46 Win % - 56.13 Advertisement

He is currently coaching Besiktas, second in the Turkish Super Lig going in to the international break after they were beaten by rivals Fenerbahce. The plan is to leave at the end of the season.

Surprisingly they were beaten 5-2 on aggregate in the Europa League by Club Brugge, knocked out of the competition before they had reached the quarter-final.

Bilic’s target now is win the title, to regain control of the Super Lig and finish above the leaders Galatasaray at the end of the season. That will add to his appeal.

There is an aura about the man, a presence that few managers possess at the highest level of the game. Bilic belongs in that category.

He wants English football, the chance to return to Upton Park as the club’s manager after spells with Lokomotiv Moscow and Besiktas.

West Ham’s ownership structure, comprising David Sullivan, David Gold and Karren Brady, along with some influential voices on the fringes of the boardroom, have a decision to make at the end of the season.

Had they been the types to appease supporters, Allardyce would have been sacked after their lame, 5-0 surrender at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup last season, which was immediately followed by a 6-0 defeat at Manchester City in the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg.

Alan Shearer (right) didn't have much to celebrate when he took over Newcastle after starring as a player

Howard Kendall (left), celebrating with Paul Bracewell after Everton sealed the First Division title in 1985, was in charge from 1981 until 1987 and returned to Goodison Park in 1990 and again in 1997

Jose Mourinho always said he would come roaring back to Chelsea after leaving in 2007

They finished the season in 13th, a respectable position for a team that had only just been promoted from the Championship under Allardyce’s leadership. But his contract is up in the summer and there has been little to suggest that he will stay beyond the end of the campaign.

He is a good manager, underlined by his sharp thinking and the tactical switch he made within minutes of being handed Sunderland’s team-sheet on Saturday.

Sunderland’s new manager Dick Advocaat spooked him by playing three forwards in his first game, starting Connor Wickham, Steven Fletcher and Jermain Defoe up front as part of a surprise attacking strategy.

Allardyce responded instantly, sensing a vulnerability down the flanks and telling his team to flood the wide area.

Hammers old boy Jermain Defoe was kept quiet by Allardyce's men at Upton Park

Allardyce was able to change his tactics at short notice to get the better of Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat

By the end of the game they had crossed the ball 42 times, winning for the first time in nine when Diafra Sakho scored in the 89th minute.

Allardyce accepts that the results of his team have not been good of late, mindful that a dip in form in the second half of the season could affect his future at the club.

There has been friction all year, manifesting itself when Sullivan claimed just after Christmas that football management was not a science.

‘The longer you are in the game and the longer you’ve had the manager, you get involved more and more because when you see your money wasted year after year, you think “I could do as good as that”,’ admitted Sullivan.

‘And you really can, you know. I know that sounds daft but if you’ve had 20 years of buying players, seeing money spent, they’re not geniuses.’

Perhaps not, but to move on and build a team ahead of their move to the Olympic Stadium in 2017, there is a view that Bilic fits the bill.