Gianfranco Zola remains the clear favourite to be named as West
Ham's new manager after the club's board ruled out Slaven Bilic's
claims.

The club's directors are understood to have made Zola, 42, their top
choice at a meeting on Monday, narrowly ahead of fellow Italian Roberto
Donadoni.

West Ham will look to complete talks as soon as possible but may
face a slight delay - the former Chelsea midfielder is joint coach of
the Italy under-21 side and they are in action in Croatia on Tuesday
night.

It is understood Zola's years of experience in the Premier League
have given him the slight edge over Donadoni, the former Italy coach
who resigned from that job after a disappointing Euro 2008 campaign.

Donadoni still remains in the frame in the unlikely event that a
deal is not clinched with Zola, but Bilic is out of the running.
West Ham hope they will unveil their first foreign manager at a news conference on Thursday.

Bilic's hopes of succeeding Alan Curbishley foundered on the
complications surrounding his release from his current job as coach of
Croatia, though he was never top of West Ham's wish list.

The Hammers' chief executive Scott Duxbury and technical director
Gianluca Nani have led the selection process and the pair today
provided a detailed report to a meeting of the club's board.

They outlined the merits of as many as 30 names who were initially
considered and then the reasons why they were whittled down to a
shortlist of six.

The report also recommended Zola and Donadoni should be regarded as the leading contenders.

Both Italians fulfilled West Ham's criteria of wanting a manager
with a commitment to playing attractive football and to developing
young players, a good media presence and a strong track record.

Donadoni, the former Italy national team coach, has more managerial
experience than Zola but he does not have the 42-year-old's long
association with English football.

The news will come as a blow to Bilic, who played for West Ham
during the 1990s, and whose representatives have been pushing his
credentials.

His success with Croatia meant he was included on West Ham's initial
shortlist but the club were told he wanted to continue coaching his
national side until the end of the year at the same time as managing
the Hammers.

Although the club did not rule out that as a possibility, the
directors felt that both Zola and Donadoni better fitted the model of
the manager they were looking for.

Michael Laudrup, the Danish former coach of Spanish side Getafe, was
due to have an interview on Monday morning but he was ruled out after
it emerged he was set to accept an offer from Spartak Moscow.