West Ham United have sacked head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, with the club reportedly in talks with Scott Parker as his replacement. According to BBC Sport, West Ham are in advanced discussions with Parker and are expected to appoint him as head coach. Confirmation could come before Wednesday.
Nuno Espirito Santo, the 52-year-old Portuguese, led West Ham’s relegation from the Premier League last season. Assistant head coach Rui Pedro Silva and goalkeeping coach Rui Barbosa also left the club. Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville will temporarily lead the side on their trip to Cardiff City on Wednesday evening.
Scott Parker is a former English midfielder who spent four seasons as a player at West Ham, making 129 appearances. He won the club’s player of the year award three times and was at West Ham when he was named FWA Player of the Year in 2011. As a manager, he led Bournemouth and Burnley to promotion from the Championship, and has been promoted from the Championship three times in total, including with Fulham. He is a former manager of Burnley, Bournemouth and Fulham.
West Ham are currently eighth in the table, six points behind leaders Middlesbrough. The club has won two of their last six matches, losing two consecutive home games, 3-2 to Southampton and 3-1 to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. They travel to Cardiff City in the Championship on Wednesday.
The club is seeking a fourth permanent manager since David Moyes left the London Stadium in May 2024. Julen Lopetegui was sacked after just six months, with six wins in 20 Premier League matches, while Graham Potter was dismissed after only eight months, after leading West Ham to 14th place while the club was 19th in the table. West Ham were relegated at the end of last season, finishing two points behind Spurs.
This season, West Ham failed to win any of their first three league matches and were 19th in the table. This was followed by four consecutive wins in the first half of September, scoring 16 goals and reaching the top of the table. In that run, the club beat Wrexham 6-0, recorded a 6-0 victory over nine-man Lincoln City and won 1-0 at Swansea City, while drawing with Millwall and QPR.
West Ham have operated at a loss of more than £104 million. The departures of Mateus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville, El Hadji Malick Diouf, James Ward-Prowse and Freddie Potts secured the club around £150 million in transfer revenue. The club paid Celtic a record £22 million for midfielder Arne Engels and reportedly spent £12 million on Norwegian winger Edwin Austbo, while Joel Veltman and Manor Solomon joined on free transfers from Brighton and Tottenham. West Ham retained key players Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavropanos. Soucek missed the first two months of the season due to an ankle injury, Engels has three assists and no goals in 12 matches, and Austbo has scored two goals and provided two assists, starting only two league games.
