West Ham United have sacked head coach Nuno Espírito Santo with immediate effect, ending a tenure that began in September 2025 and survived relegation from the Premier League but could not survive a stalled promotion push in the Championship.
The club announced the decision on Tuesday 3 November, saying it followed a thorough review of the start of the Championship season. West Ham sit eighth in the second tier after 13 games, six points behind leaders Middlesbrough, after back-to-back home defeats.
“West Ham United can confirm that men’s first-team head coach Nuno Espírito Santo has left his position with immediate effect,” the club said in a statement.
“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.”
Assistant head coach Rui Pedro Silva and goalkeeper coach Rui Barbosa have also left the club. West Ham said the process of recruiting a new head coach was already under way, and that it would make no further comment until an appointment is confirmed.
Two defeats that changed the mood
The timing tells the story of how quickly the mood has turned. In September, West Ham topped the Championship table after thrashing Wrexham, and Nuno was named manager of the month. Since then, successive home defeats — first against Southampton, then a 3-1 loss to West Bromwich Albion at the London Stadium on Saturday — have left the Hammers eighth and chasing the pack rather than leading it.
West Ham have now lost three of their seven home games this season, a record that sits uneasily with a squad assembled for an immediate return to the top flight. The club went into the season as one of the favourites for automatic promotion; instead, they are six points off the top after 13 games.
A tenure that survived relegation — but not the second tier
Nuno was appointed on 27 September 2025, replacing Graham Potter on a three-year contract. He could not keep West Ham in the Premier League, and the club were relegated on the final day of the 2025-26 season — their first spell in the second tier since 2011.
The board nevertheless stuck with him in May, backing him to lead the promotion bid. He leaves with a record of 19 wins, 15 draws and 19 defeats from 53 matches in all competitions — a near-even ledger that, in the end, was not enough to keep the project on track.
For a club of West Ham’s size and support, the Championship was always going to be judged on promotion, not patience. Eighth place in November, with the leaders pulling away, was the point at which the board decided the objectives it had set were no longer safe in his hands.
What happens next
Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville will take temporary charge of preparations for Wednesday evening’s Championship fixture at Cardiff City. A trip to Blackburn Rovers follows on Saturday, before the international break, with Preston North End and Portsmouth also on the horizon.
Widespread reports have linked former Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley boss Scott Parker with the vacancy, with some suggesting he is in advanced talks and could be in the dugout for the Cardiff trip. None of that has been confirmed by the club, which has said only that recruitment is under way and it will say nothing more until an appointment is confirmed. Until then, the interim trio — led by Noble, a club legend — carry a promotion push that has stalled at exactly the wrong moment.
West Ham’s home is the London Stadium in Stratford, in the borough of Newham — the same ground that is the subject of plans for 85,000-strong boxing crowds as its operators look to cut losses. On the pitch, though, the immediate question is simpler: who takes charge of a squad built to go straight back up, and can they turn eighth place into promotion?
