David Sullivan is unlikely to ever admit it of course – at least not publicly – but the West Ham United owner may wish he could roll back the clock to January 2025 and choose a different successor for Julen Lopetegui.
As it stands, only Avram Grant has a worse win rate than Graham Potter as a West Ham United manager in the Premier League era.
And as club legend Tony Cottee pointed out while largely praising West Ham’s tendency to keep the faith for far longer than most top-flight clubs would allow, suffering relegation under Grant in 2010 is a warning they must heed or risk history repeating itself.
The Potter tenure appears to be on its last legs now.
Where West Ham would be had they hired one of their many alternative options eight months ago is anyone’s guess, though most of those who joined him on that post-Lopetegui wishlist would back themselves to have mustered far more than six wins from 25 games.
Hammers News can confirm that David Sullivan held talks with Christophe Galtier and Paulo Fonseca around the turn of the year. According to The Guardian, Kasper Hjulmand, Sebastian Hoeness and Roger Schmidt were also the subject of ‘checks’.
Now, as the upcoming international break is likely to mark a change – Graham Potter should oversee trips to Everton and Arsenal before making way in October – there is one member of that aforementioned coaching quintet who could be available to take his place immediately.
West Ham United looked at former Benfica coach Roger Schmidt before hiring Graham Potter
It’s not Christophe Galtier.
The former Paris Saint-Germain coach is currently working in Saudi Arabia with nouveau-riche Neom SC. One-time West Ham winger Said Benhrama inspired Neom’s promotion to the Pro League last season. Now, both he and Galtier have their sights fixed on larger prizes.
Fonseca is in charge of Lyon. Well, from afar, anyway. He still has a few weeks remaining on a touchline ban following an altercation with referee Benoit Millot in the spring.
Hjulmand took Erik ten Hag’s job at Bayer Leverkusen following the Dutchman’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, two-game tenure. Hoeness is looking to bring Champions League football back to Stuttgart.
As for Roger Schmidt, well, if West Ham want someone who could come in straight away, perhaps on a short-term deal, without the need for a lengthy negotiation or a sizeable compensation package, the 58-year-old German may yet come under consideration again.
The Guardian reported that West Ham looked into Roger Schmidt before offering a contract to Potter.
He has been out of work since August 2024, but his CV speaks for itself. Schmidt has won trophies in four different countries and with four different clubs – Benfica, PSV Eindhoven, Beijing Guoan and Red Bull Salzburg – while he also secured Champions League qualification with Leverkusen during perhaps the height of his career in the mid-2010s.
Schmidt would bring ‘intense’ football to West Ham
Now, former England striker Darren Bent had a point when he said West Ham and Graham Potter are a ‘match made in hell’. For a fanbase who tend to demand excitement as well as results, Potter’s ponderous, possession-without-a-cause football always felt like trying to shoehorn Kevin James into a Martin Scorsese epic.
Schmidt, though, would guarantee quickened pulses, for better or for worse.
“My philosophy of football is we play intense football,” he said in his Leverkusen days, making the point that a high-pressing, all-action attack must go hand-in-hand with a solid backline
“One of our main points is good organisation against the ball. We try to win the ball very early, very close to the goal of the opposition. We try to be very fast to the ball, and switch to the offensive. It is a little bit similar to [Mauricio Pochettino’s] Tottenham.”
“In this style, with a lot of pressing, that means that you make a lot sprints. That is why the players need to be in good physical condition, as they need the ability to make a lot of short sprints in the match.”
It should be said that hiring Schmidt mid-season would be a pretty substantial risk, partly due to his lack of recent employment and a squad that might struggle to adapt to his ‘gegenpressing’ methods. With the threat of relegation very real this season, it should maybe come as little surprise that Sullivan prefers the supposedly ‘safe handed’ Slaven Bilic.
Hammers News can confirm that sporting director Mark Noble admires Burnley boss Scott Parker, as well as Coventry City coach Frank Lampard and another ex-West Ham midfielder in Michael Carrick.
Nuno Espirito Santo held talks with Karren Brady, the club’s vice-chair, last week.
It’s nice to have plenty of options on the table. But, unlike last time, West Ham must chose the right one.
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