West Ham move swiftly to put Bilic and Zola at top of shortlist

West Ham United have drawn up a high-calibre shortlist to succeed Alan Curbishley as the club's manager following a board meeting yesterday. The seven-strong list is headed by Croatia coach Slaven Bilic but also includes Gianfranco Zola, Roberto Donadoni, John Collins, Michael Laudrup, Roberto Mancini and Gérard Houllier.

Although Zola and Houllier both have jobs, only Bilic's employment presents a problem. The list has been reduced from a longer list selected by technical director Gianluca Nani. West Ham – who face West Bromwich Albion away on 13 September – hope to have a new manager in place by the time their next Premier League match comes around. Soundings will now take place before the shortlist is whittled down to two or three candidates who will meet the board.

The credentials of those who have put themselves forward should hearten West Ham supporters who have been rocked by the events of the last few days with Curbishley walking, claiming he had been undermined in transfer decisions. The board vehemently deny they have sold players over his head but there had been growing pressure and unhappiness with Curbishley which is why his resignation was accepted.

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LAMBS FOR THE SLAUGHTER?

With vacant managerial posts at both Newcastle and West Ham - who is the best manager rumoured to be available?

Your answer

Slaven Bilic Roberto Donadoni Gianfranco Zola John Collins Gus Poyet Alan Shearer Dennis Wise Didier Deschamps Gerard Houllier Davide Ballardini Sam Allardyce Roberto Mancini

• See poll results

With vacant managerial posts at both Newcastle and West Ham - who is the best manager rumoured to be available?

Slaven Bilic	28%
Roberto Donadoni	3%
Gianfranco Zola	3%
John Collins	2%
Gus Poyet	2%
Alan Shearer	2%
Dennis Wise	3%
Didier Deschamps	10%
Gerard Houllier	16%
Davide Ballardini	1%
Sam Allardyce	11%
Roberto Mancini	21%

Bilic is still regarded as the favourite but West Ham need to tread carefully if they are to get their man. It is understood that the 39-year-old is keen on the post but is also acutely aware that, with a World Cup qualification campaign about to start, the timing could not be worse. Croatia play Kazakhstan on Saturday and then England the next Wednesday. It could be that West Ham will have to wait until after that fixture if they are to approach him.

Interviewed ahead of Saturday's match, Bilic refused to discuss whether he would be interested in West Ham. "We are playing Kazakhstan and we are just concentrating on that game," he said yesterday. Asked whether the link was unsettling, he said "no, not at all" before adding that the Croatia players had not questioned him over it. "They have read it on the internet or in the paper but they have not asked me."

The decision to include Zola and Donadoni on the shortlist is no great surprise given that, like Nani, they are Italian. Zola, in particular, is an interesting choice due to his strong links with Chelsea but West Ham believe that he is the kind of universally popular former player who can transcend club loyalties. Most recently he has been assisting another former Chelsea player, Pierluigi Casiraghi, with the Italy squad at the Olympics, and has been honing his coaching skills by working with his country's Under-21 side.

Donadoni is a slightly more curious choice given Italy's poor showing in Euro 2008 which, eventually, cost him his job as the coach of the national team. He is also quite an enigmatic figure. The former Milan midfielder endured a difficult time with some of his squad but he does have more club coaching experience than Zola having worked at Livorno and Genoa before taking charge of Italy in 2006.

Laudrup, the former Danish international who left Spanish club Getafe last season and came close to getting the Blackburn Rovers job, would be a strong contender. He was, at one time, pushed to take over at Chelsea and is committed to entertaining, attacking football. Similarly Collins – the only British contender – launched a promising career at Hibernian and was considered by Fulham, as was Bilic. He would be keen to join West Ham.

The club has not considered including Paolo Di Canio – even though he is desperate for the job – because he lacks experience. There is annoyance at West Ham that others such as Harry Redknapp and Stuart Pearce have ruled themselves out of the running as they were never in the frame in the first place. Others such as Sam Allardyce and David O'Leary have not been considered.

Meanwhile, the fall out from Curbishley's departure continued yesterday with West Ham reacting angrily to claims by their former defender George McCartney that he did not submit a formal transfer request ahead of his £6m deadline-day move to Sunderland. The deal, along with the sale of Anton Ferdinand, also to Sunderland, for £8m, was cited by Curbishley as evidence that transfers were taking place over his head. West Ham deny this claim and last night issued a statement which purported to quote from the transfer request submitted by McCartney on 1 September. It stated that "due to private, family reasons I wish to accept the offer to move back to Sunderland AFC". The club said it was "astonished" at the 27-year-old's claims that he had not asked for a move and also released details of a letter written to McCartney claiming the bid could be rejected and he could stay.

At a press conference yesterday, while on international duty with Northern Ireland, McCartney had accused the board of lying. "I have seen on the West Ham website I handed in a written transfer request. I never did anything of the sort," McCartney said. "Probably the board at West Ham are trying to cover their tracks."

McCartney then admitted that he did want to leave but added: "I did propose that for family reasons I would like to move back north. But the manager said no, I wasn't leaving and just to concentrate on West Ham. I was happy to stay. That was on the Friday and I played my part in the Blackburn game on the Saturday.

"The thought of leaving was finished as far as I was concerned. I got on an indication on Sunday that I could be on my way. These are strange times at West Ham and no-one really knows what is going on at boardroom level."