After all the talk of West Ham United potentially turning to a Championship specialist in Scott Parker, Nuno Espirito Santo’s own track record in England’s second tier has perhaps gone a little under the radar.
In a huge and unexpected twist, the Hammers confirmed on Wednesday morning that Nuno will be remaining at the London Stadium in an attempt to right the wrongs of his first eight months in charge.
Parker secured promotion with Burnley, Fulham and Bournemouth between 2020 and 2025. Wales Craig Bellamy was a popular option among supporters, too, while David Sullivan’s admiration for Slaven Bilic is well documented.
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It is fair to say, with a number of intriguing candidates emerging and Nuno Espirito Santo’s reputation dented severely by West Ham United’s third relegation of the Premier League era, few imagined that the highly-anticipated ‘official statement’ posted on via club’s official website would say this;
“We held meetings with Head Coach Nuno Espirito Santo early this week and are pleased to confirm that he has expressed his continued commitment to the Club – as we have to him,” the statement reads.
“Nuno made it very clear that he is highly motivated for the challenge of guiding West Ham United back to the top flight at the first time of asking. That must be the unquestionable goal for next season.”
Nuno Espirito Santo stays as West Ham United hope for a Wolves repeat
The statement goes on to highlight the ‘outstanding success’ Nuno enjoyed in his one and only previous season at Championship level.
Outstanding is certainly a fair description.
His Wolverhampton Wanderers side cruised to the title in 2018, racking up a staggering 99 points along the way. Only six teams have ever managed more since the old First Division was rebranded over two decades ago; including Parker’s Burnley from 2024/25, funnily enough.
That Wolves side remain one of the most dominant, ruthless teams ever to feature in the competition.
Ok, Nuno had plenty of support – Wolves brought in the likes of Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota thanks to their close ties with super-agent Jorge Mendes – but 30 wins from 46, 82 goals scored and only 39 conceded were numbers even the most optimistic Molineux matchgoers could hardly have imagined.
Nuno, lest we forget, took Wolves from 15th in the Championship to seventh in the Premier League in the space of two seasons.
Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp were blown away by Nuno’s success at Molineux
A man who would also take Nottingham Forest into Europe deployed a 3-4-3 formation with huge success during a sensational debut campaign in Wolverhampton.
His Wolves side actually averaged only the fourth highest possession stats in the league, though; their title-winning form built upon a rock solid backline, attack-minded wingbacks, a classy central midfield, and two flying wingers in Jota and Helder Costa/Ivan Cavaleiro either side of a physical number nine in Leo Bonatini.
“They are the best team I’ve ever seen in the Championship,” then-QPR boss Ian Holloway said. “The movement, the passing, the sheer quality, Nuno has built a machine.”
“He didn’t come direct to the Premier League, he came to the Championship. He earned the right to be here by completely dominating it on his own merits,” Jose Mourinho, then at Manchester United, would later argue, while Jurgen Klopp was glowing in his appreciation for the ‘philosophy’ and ‘rare clarity’ Nuno brought to Wolverhampton.
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Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville will surely headline the departures from West Ham this summer. There are serious doubts about the futures of Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Taty Castellanos, El Hadji Malick Diouf and Dinos Mavropanos.
West Ham should still possess a strong core levels above many of their Championship rivals, though; Kyle Walker-Peters, Mads Hermansen, Freddie Potts, Ollie Scarles, Tomas Soucek etc.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge between Nuno’s title success at Wolves in 2018 and his West Ham relegation eight years later.
But if the West Ham bosses felt they needed a coach with experience of getting teams out of the second-tier – forget Parker or Bilic – maybe, hopefully, the answer was under their very own noses.
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