Hammers boss Bilic was told his position was under review after three straight defeats, and made matters worse by openly criticising the club’s transfer policy last week.
But his West Ham side proved they are still playing for their manager by beating the Terriers, and they want him to stay.
Defender Fonte said: “He’s a passionate manager and he’s a great manager. He deserved this because he has been under a lot of pressure of course as we all know.
“This is the business that we are in but I think it was important for him and it was important to show our attitude and to show we are always with our manager.
“I am pleased for because it was his birthday as well so we gave him what he wanted and now hopefully we can kick on.
“We are experienced enough to know that we are all under pressure. This is our job, we get criticised for everything.
“We have to deal with it and the best way to deal with it is to go to the training ground and work harder than ever and that is what we have been doing.
“It’s an important win after a few difficult weeks. Obviously, it’s three points and nothing more than that but it is three points that will give us a little bit more confidence.
“We are pleased with it because we showed that obviously we have a great squad. Hopefully we can keep going and start picking up points.
“As a defender, it’s the worst possible feeling conceding three goals every game or four.
“It’s unbelievable so for us we managed to keep a clean sheet and we felt secure with the system we played tonight.
“It worked well last year when we changed to this system. The manager in this game reversed to last year and it was very successful. We are buzzing, we are happy with the result.”
Fonte’s defensive partner James Collins reckons fans will see a different West Ham now the weight has finally been lifted from their shoulders.
He said: “I think it was more relief than anything. I am sure you will see a different West Ham getting those first three points.
“It was playing on everyone’s mind and hopefully we have put that to rest and we can move on and get a good result at the weekend.
“There has been a lot of talk and the manager has been under a lot of pressure, but that’s down to us.
“I say it all the time, I do find it a bit funny when managers get so much stick when it’s the lads on the pitch performing or not performing as we were, and the gaffer has to take it on his shoulder.
“We had to give him a performance and a result. It was not really about how we played, it was about getting three points and thankfully we have done that.”
