Slaven Bilic was announced and confirmed as West Brom head coach this week, ending over a month of speculation over who the new Baggies boss would be. 

Bilic, who has a good managerial CV including the Croatia national team, Besiktas and West Ham, takes over a club that will be expected to be promoted next season, after failing in the play-offs on penalties to Aston Villa this season.

The Croat has had time out of management, turning to punditry work on the odd occasion, but he will be raring to go with a tough task at the Hawthorns Stadium.

While at West Ham, Bilic claimed many big scalps, including wins against Liverpool, Man City and Man United. They also broke West Ham’s Premier League points record, and scored a plethora of goals, with a team built around Frenchman Dimitri Payet.

He was sacked in a case of what looked to be ‘second-season syndrome’, so in that time he will have learned many lessons.

Here, we look at three lessons Slaven Bilic will have learnt when at West Ham, that he can bring to the Hawthorns and hopefully use to bring success. 

To make the home ground a fortress 

When Bilic was at West Ham, for the first season at least, Upton Park was a fortress. 

The last game ever at the ground was a memorable victory over Manchester United, in a thrilling 3-2 win. 

Throughout that season, West Ham was a tricky ground to go to, even for the big teams, so he must try to make Hawthorns similar.

Build team around creative outlet in midfield 

When West Ham truly thrived was when they built the team around Dimitri Payet. 

West Brom succeeded last season when Harvey Barnes was the main man in midfield - losing him was a huge blow to their promotion hopes.

Bilic must target a player like this, and build the team around him.

Be wise in the transfer window 

Transfer windows can make or break seasons in the Championship, and Bilic must use this summer wisely.

This means not rushing into signings, instead weighing up all his options before making his move on certain stars.