West Ham sack Nuno Espírito Santo with club eighth in the Championship

West Ham United have sacked head coach Nuno Espírito Santo with the club eighth in the Championship. The board announced his immediate departure on Tuesday morning, according to Sky Sports, after back-to-back home defeats to Southampton and West Brom.

Assistant head coach Rui Pedro Silva and goalkeeper coach Rui Barbosa have gone with him. Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville will take temporary charge for Wednesday's trip to Cardiff City, and BBC Sport reports that the search for a permanent successor is already under way.

The board's reasoning, and the gaps in it

The club's statement is a lesson in corporate calm. "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."

That sentence names no result, no figure and no timeline. It does not say what "on track" means, which is the interesting part. The Mirror notes that eighth is the final spot in the newly reconfigured play-offs, so West Ham are inside the places, just not where the club expected to be.

The Standard reports that Nuno expected to be in the dugout at Cardiff. That matters. A manager planning for Wednesday and a board that had already decided on Tuesday are not working from the same calendar.

There is also a question the announcement does not answer: the terms of the exit. The Independent says Nuno signed a three-year contract when he replaced Graham Potter in September 2025. The reports give no word on a settlement. What happens to the remainder of that deal, and what it costs, is still unanswered.

The numbers behind the decision

The league table is not a disaster. West Ham are six points behind leaders Middlesbrough and four below second place, per Sky Sports and BBC Sport. The Mirror counts six wins from 13 Championship games.

For me, the trend is more telling than the league position:

• The Independent says West Ham beat Wrexham 6-0 at the start of September, then won just two of the next seven.
• BBC Sport counts two wins from the last six. The outlets frame the window differently, but neither paints a side gathering speed.
• The last two results were home defeats: 3-2 to Southampton and 3-1 to West Brom on Saturday, according to BBC Sport. The Independent reports the West Brom score as 2-1, while Sky, BBC, the Guardian and the Mirror all say 3-1.
• The Independent adds that many spectators turned for the exits before full-time against West Brom.

Nuno's own words after that game did not help him. "When you lose at home to Charlton, Southampton and West Brom, the only solution is to improve our game." Asked whether his job was under pressure, he said: "I am always under pressure. Every day." Sky Sports carries the first quote; the Mirror reports the second. The second now reads like a forecast.

Who backed him, and who is accountable

This is where I would look. Nuno stayed after relegation from the Premier League in May, a season that ended with West Ham 18th on the final day and Tottenham staying up, as the Independent reports. The Standard says Daniel Kretinsky, who became majority owner in September, backed him to continue.

The promotion push was not a half-hearted one. According to the Independent, the club kept captain Jarrod Bowen to boost the promotion bid and signed Arne Engels from Celtic for £22m, a Championship record. The Guardian is harsh on Nuno's record, saying he had 33 games to save West Ham from relegation but that his tactics were poor, his team selections confusing and his signings have not worked out. That is the Guardian's judgement, not a club statement.

So the owner backed the coach, the money was spent, and the coach lasted 14 months. The next appointment should bring scrutiny of those earlier calls, with the club's promotion case already weakened. Follow the money. It never takes a day off.

What to watch

The Guardian reports there has previously been internal support for former West Ham manager Scott Parker, though it says there is no clear favourite at the moment. The reports do not say whether Parker has been contacted.

The fixtures give the interim trio a short test and the next appointment a clearer one:

• Cardiff City away, Wednesday
• Blackburn away, 7 November
• Preston at home, 21 November
• Portsmouth away, 24 November
• Stoke City at home, 28 November
• Sheffield United away, 4 December
• Middlesbrough at home, 8 December

There is a two-week gap after Blackburn, which is a convenient window for an appointment. The Middlesbrough game on 8 December is the one that will show how far the leaders have moved on. West Ham are not out of the race, but nobody should pretend this was a calm decision made from a position of strength.