West Ham appoint Nuno Espirito Santo as manager after Potter sacking

West Ham United have appointed Nuno Espirito Santo as head coach after sacking Graham Potter on Saturday morning, with the club sitting 19th in the Premier League.

Nuno, 51, has signed a three-year contract and will take charge of his first match on Monday away at Everton. Potter was dismissed after eight months in the job as West Ham slumped to the bottom of the table, having collected three points from five league games this season.

Nuno Espirito Santo, who has managed Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers at other points in his career, also spent 21 months in charge of Nottingham Forest before being dismissed in September, three games into this season. Forest finished seventh last season, their highest finish since 1994-95. He took his first training session in east London on Saturday afternoon ahead of Monday’s trip to Everton, and will be assisted in the interim by academy coaches Mark Robson, Steve Potts, Gerard Prenderville and Billy Lepine, with a further announcement on his coaching and backroom staff to be made in due course.

“[I am] very pleased to be here and very proud to be representing West Ham United,” Nuno said after agreeing terms. “My objective is to work hard to get the very best from the team and ensure that we are as competitive as we possibly can be. The work has already started and I am looking forward to the challenge that is ahead.”

West Ham broadened the context of Potter’s exit in a club statement, saying the decision was made because results and performances over the second half of last season and at the start of the 2025-26 campaign had not matched expectations. In a separate note, Potter said via the League Managers Association that he was “incredibly disappointed to be leaving West Ham, particularly without being able to achieve what we set out to achieve at the start of our journey in east London,” adding that he acknowledged the results had not been good enough to justify his continued tenure.

Nuno’s appointment marks his fourth Premier League club after Tottenham, Wolves and Forest, and it comes as West Ham seek an immediate lift with a visit to Everton on Monday. The club’s interim coaching structure will be complemented by a broader staff plan to be announced in due course as the new regime looks to stabilize a season that has started poorly for the Hammers.

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