Nuno Sacked by West Ham After Six Wins in 13 Championship Games

• Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked by West Ham on Tuesday, along with assistant head coach Rui Pedro Silva and goalkeeper coach Rui Barbosa.
• West Ham are eighth in the Championship and six points behind leaders Middlesbrough, with six wins from 13 matches.
• Scott Parker is in line to take over, per The Guardian, with optimism he will be in place for Wednesday’s trip to Cardiff City.

Why Patience Ran Out at the London Stadium

Nuno Espirito Santo is out at West Ham. The club confirmed his departure on Tuesday morning, three days after a 3-1 home defeat by West Bromwich Albion. Supporters at the London Stadium had turned on him on Saturday with a chant of “sacked in the morning”. The board has now given them what they sang for. Rui Pedro Silva and Rui Barbosa leave with him, and the club says the search for a new head coach is already under way. In a short statement, the board said a thorough review of the Championship start had convinced it that a change was needed to keep the club’s objectives on track.

A Season That Never Took Off

Nuno, 52, signed a three-year contract in September 2025 and took over from Graham Potter. He could not prevent West Ham’s relegation from the Premier League, and the club kept him on for the promotion push anyway. Co-owner David Sullivan was understood to favour a split in the summer, but Daniel Kretinsky, now the largest shareholder, backed Nuno to lead the club back up. West Ham said Nuno was “highly motivated” for the job.

West Ham were expected to start strongly in the second tier. Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, Taty Castellanos and Konstantinos Mavropanos all stayed after relegation, while Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville were sold. The club also paid a Championship record £22million to bring Arne Engels in from Celtic. Yet West Ham stand eighth, six points behind Middlesbrough, with six wins from 13 matches.

There were good days. West Ham beat Wrexham and Lincoln City 6-0 and went eight games unbeaten earlier in the campaign. Consistency never arrived. Back-to-back defeats by Southampton and West Brom proved to be the final straw. Nuno left with 19 wins, 19 defeats and 15 draws from 53 matches in charge.

Nuno’s Own Words, and the Reaction

After the West Brom game, Nuno spoke openly about the heat he was under. “Every day there is pressure,” he said. He listed the damage himself: points dropped against Burnley on the opening day, then home defeats by Charlton, Southampton and West Brom. “The only solution is to improve our game,” he said. “When we do that, our fans are going to stick with us.”

The reaction around the club was less diplomatic. Marrion Areola, the wife of back-up goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, posted Instagram stories that appeared to celebrate the news. One showed her smiling for a photo, another had Sam Phillips’ song “Happy” playing, and a third was a Sound of Music clip of the song So Long Farewell. She had criticised Nuno publicly in the summer. “From a trophy to relegation. Thank you Potter for the start of this season and Nuno for the end,” she wrote beside a photo of her husband holding the Conference League trophy. She also accused Nuno of dropping Areola “for no particular reason” after he lost his place to Mads Hermansen.

West Ham’s own Instagram post announcing the exit was liked by Edson Alvarez, the Mexican midfielder who has yet to play in the Championship this season. Reading’s George Earthy, a former West Ham academy graduate, also appeared to like it.

What Happens Next

Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville take temporary charge, with Cardiff City the next opponent on Wednesday. Their stint could be short. Parker is understood to be the choice, and Noble, his former teammate, is expected to join his backroom staff.

Parker made 129 appearances for West Ham and won three Player of the Year awards. As a manager he has won promotion to the Premier League with Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley, and he has had no job from the day he left Burnley, shortly after their relegation was confirmed last season. Burnley, the club he left, have sacked Nicky Hayen after 14 games and one win.

Nuno had already faced angry supporters last season, when he said the fans were right to be furious after the defeat at Newcastle. West Ham want to avoid a second year in the Championship. A trip to Blackburn follows the Cardiff game, then a two-week international break gives the new man time to work.

Nuno is a legendary former manager of Wolves, and it was their arch-rivals West Brom who delivered the last blow. He leaves West Ham with the promotion race still open and the job unfinished.

WRITTEN BY

George Howson

George Howson is a Futbol Chronicle contributor and accredited journalist with over 20 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, George has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing deep knowledge and first-hand insight to every match report and analysis he writes.

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