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James Tomkins wants to tap into Slaven Bilic’s passion and experience to become a better player.
The centre-half will captain West Ham in their opening Europa League qualifying clash against FC Lusitans tonight with a number of other first‑team regulars not involved.
Bilic replaced Sam Allardyce as manager three weeks ago but academy boss Terry Westley will be in charge against the Andorran minnows this evening.
The Croatian will be in attendance at a sold-out Upton Park and Tomkins was a big fan of the former central defender when he turned out for the Hammers between 1996 and 1997.
“He showed his passion on the pitch,” said Tomkins.“He didn’t play as many games for West Ham as you’d think for someone who has the likeability he has around this place but that is because of that passion he showed during those games. I’m sure he does that in managing as well.
“The fans love that, he wears his heart on his sleeve and put his all into tackles, people want to see that.”
Tomkins, who missed the end of last season with a dislocated shoulder, wants to use Bilic’s know-how as a defender to better his own game.
He said: “I had a little meeting with him and I said, ‘I’m looking forward to working with you’. It will be nice to see what ideas he has got and if he can improve us as players.
“I’m 26 and I think defenders develop later on in their careers. I want to progress my game further and if I can do that with the new manager that would be brilliant. He was an international and has managed at international level, you don’t get much bigger than that — he is very intelligent and knows his players.”
