West Ham United have sacked Portuguese head coach Nuno Espírito Santo following a disappointing run of results in the Championship, with Scott Parker emerging as a candidate to take over.
The decision comes as the London club seek an immediate return to the Premier League following last season’s relegation, with the board concluding that the team’s current trajectory threatened those ambitions.
West Ham said the dismissal followed a comprehensive review of the start to the season. Assistant coach Rui Pedro Silva and goalkeeping coach Rui Barbosa have also departed, with the search for a new coaching team now under way.
Nuno leaves West Ham eighth in the table with 22 points from 13 matches, having recorded six wins, four draws and three defeats. Back-to-back home losses to Southampton and West Bromwich Albion increased the pressure on him, with the latter ending in a 3–1 defeat.
Across his tenure, the Portuguese coach oversaw 53 matches in all competitions, registering 19 wins, 15 draws and 19 defeats — a win rate of approximately 35.8%. He succeeded Graham Potter in September 2025 but was unable to prevent the club’s relegation.
The board had backed him to continue despite the drop to the Championship at the end of the 2025–26 season, following spells of improved form during the second half of the campaign. However, the start to the current season failed to deliver the progress the club had expected in the promotion race.
Parker’s promotion record helps explain his place among the contenders. He guided Fulham to the Premier League through the play-offs in 2020, secured automatic promotion with Bournemouth in 2022 and repeated the achievement with Burnley in 2025, collecting 100 points and keeping 30 clean sheets.
The English coach also knows West Ham from his playing days. In the meantime, Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville have been tasked with preparing the team for the Cardiff match while the club work to appoint a new head coach.
