West Ham United are expected to appoint Scott Parker as head coach after sacking Nuno Espirito Santo. The 52-year-old Portuguese head coach has paid the price for the club’s disappointing start to the Championship season, having overseen their relegation from the Premier League last season.
Reports indicate that West Ham are in advanced talks with former Burnley, Bournemouth and Fulham boss Parker, and he could be confirmed before Wednesday’s Championship trip to Cardiff City. The former England midfielder spent four seasons as a player with the Hammers and led Bournemouth and Burnley to promotion from the Championship as a manager.
Widely seen as favourites for automatic promotion, the London side are currently eighth in the table, six points behind leaders Middlesbrough. They have won two of their last six games and have lost back-to-back home matches, going down 3-2 to Southampton and then 3-1 to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. Those defeats have seen them drop from second place.
Assistant head coach Rui Pedro Silva and goalkeeper coach Rui Barbosa have also left the club. Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville will take temporary charge for the trip to Cardiff City on Wednesday night.
In a club statement, West Ham said: “Following a thorough review of the start to the EFL Championship season, the board of directors believe that a change is necessary at this time in order to ensure that the club’s objectives and expectations remain on track.”
The statement continued: “West Ham United would like to thank Nuno, Rui and Rui for their hard work and commitment during their time at the club, and wish them all the very best for the future. The process of recruiting a new head coach is already under way.”
A turbulent recent past
The decision means West Ham are looking for their fourth permanent manager since David Moyes left London Stadium in May 2024. His successor, Julen Lopetegui, was sacked after just six months in charge, with the Hammers mid-table having won six of their 20 Premier League matches. He was replaced by Graham Potter, who oversaw a 14th-placed finish but was sacked after only eight months in charge, with the club 19th in the table.
The club opted to stick with Nuno, the former Wolves and Tottenham Hotspur boss, despite his inability to turn around the club’s fortunes. West Ham were relegated at the end of last season after finishing two points behind Spurs.
This season began poorly, as the Hammers failed to win any of their first three league matches and sat 19th in the table. A run of four successive wins in the first half of September, in which they scored 16 goals and went top of the table, suggested they had adapted to the second tier. A 6-0 win over Wrexham was the highlight of that run. Since then, they have managed just two league victories: a 6-0 win at nine-man Lincoln City and a 1-0 win at Swansea City. Draws with London rivals Millwall and QPR came in between.
A squad that Parker can work with
Having posted losses of more than £104m, relegation forced West Ham to sell players over the summer. The departures of Mateus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville, El Hadji Malick Diouf, James Ward-Prowse and Freddie Potts secured the club about £150m in transfer revenue.
The club used some of that money to pay Celtic a Championship record £22m for midfielder Arne Engels and spent a reported £12m on Norwegian winger Edvin Austbo. Experienced campaigners Joel Veltman and Manor Solomon also joined on free transfers from Brighton and Tottenham. Meanwhile, West Ham kept key players, including England winger Jarrod Bowen, Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek and Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Soucek missed the first two months of the season with an ankle injury, and some of the new signings have yet to deliver. Engels has three assists and no goals in 12 games, while Austbo has scored twice and provided two assists, having started just two league matches. Even so, the squad is capable of turning things around, particularly under a manager with Championship promotion experience such as Parker.
Parker’s credentials
Parker guided Burnley to promotion from the Championship in April 2024. He made 129 appearances in a four-year spell with West Ham, won the club’s player of the year award three times, and was named FWA Player of the Year in 2011 while at the club.
West Ham’s hierarchy believe Parker understands the club and its culture, and that he is someone the fans can get behind. He has also won promotion from the Championship three times, with Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley.
Given the estimated £200m loss in revenue, the club must return to the Premier League immediately. A run of two wins in six has dropped West Ham to eighth, four points off second-placed Swansea in the final automatic promotion place, and that is not good enough. Parker appears the obvious choice, and West Ham are moving quickly to get the deal done.
Stability and the road ahead
Some expected Nuno to leave the club in the summer after West Ham failed to survive their relegation battle. However, the stability he offered and his experience of guiding Wolves out of the Championship were seen as reasons to keep him in charge.
The 6-0 wins over Wrexham and Lincoln contrast with disappointing home defeats, including the last two matches at London Stadium. A major concern has been the slow starts to games. West Ham have conceded the opening goal in four of their last six Championship matches and have taken just two points from those games. There is a sense that the team does not yet appreciate the intensity and urgency required at this level and remains too ponderous in the first half.
The Hammers have also faced a run of matches against teams in good form and high in the table. Losses in two of those games, both at home, proved costly for Nuno.
With the squad at their disposal and a fanbase that backs them, the job will be attractive to the next head coach. However, the expectation at London Stadium is an immediate return to the Premier League, and falling short of that objective would carry risks for the club’s long-term prospects.