A cult hero of Spanish football touched down at West Ham United on Thursday, with Nuno Espirito Santo adding former Rayo Vallecano coach Paco Jemez to his coaching staff.
Reporters earlier this month emerged claiming that Nuno was not a particularly happy chappy behind the scenes at the London Stadium.
With the exception of goalkeeping expert Rui Barbosa, Nuno Espirito Santo was denied the chance to bring many of his trusted behind-the-scenes operators with him from Nottingham Forest to West Ham United when replacing Graham Potter.
Instead, former Under-21 boss Mark Robson was promoted to the senior staff, alongside Billy Lepine, Gerard Prenderville and Steve [father of Freddie] Potts.
Admired by Luis Enrique and loved by Pep Guardiola… 🇪🇸
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As of Thursday morning, though, Nuno will now be able to call upon Paco Jemez. The Londoners welcome to Rush Green a 55-year-old who, not so long ago, was considered one of the most unique and ambitious tacticians in European football.
This, plus a hard-fought FA Cup triumph over Queens Park Rangers, appears to have lifted the prickly Portuguese’ mood somewhat.
Nuno Espirito Santo welcomes Paco Jemez to West Ham United
Pep Guardiola is famously a huge Paco Jemez fan. So too is Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique; a former Spain teammate who, by his own admission, did not anticipate the ex-centre-half becoming a coach with such swashbuckling tendencies.
Jemez was every hipster’s favourite footballing mind during the mid-2010s. He led Rayo Vallecano to a best-ever La Liga finish of eighth and, at one point, his side averaged the fifth-highest possession stats on the continent, behind only Manchester City, PSG, Barcelona and Pep’s brilliant Bayern Munich side.
Now, Jemez’s reputation in 2025 is not quite what it was in 2015. Disappointing spells in charge of Granada and UD Ibiza, plus a couple of years in Azerbaijan, means the Canary Islander had slipped out of the mainstream consciousness.
Nuno is still delighted to have him on board at West Ham, though.
“It’s one more person to help us. The coaching staff [has] more numbers,” Nuno said during his press conference on Thursday, only a couple of hours after he was officially unveiled as a new ‘First Team Coach’.
“More numbers means more ideas, more energy. He is an experienced coach and he will bring new things to us. He will help us definitely.”
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It remains to be seen whether Jemez – who famously said he would rather lose 5-0 sticking to his attacking principles than win while abandoning his blueprint – can encourage the pragmatic Nuno to release the handbrake a little.
Jemez may be on the bench for the first time when West Ham travel to arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Nuno hopes to have Lucas Paqueta available despite a recent back injury and the ongoing speculation surrounding a move to Flamengo. Mateus Fernandes is also likely to undergo a late fitness test before kick-off against a Spurs side whose own head coach – Thomas Frank – is also under serious scrutiny.
“We are in a tough position but we are fighting to improve our game and the way we play,” Nuno adds. “There were many matches where we played well and didn’t achieve a result, but that [QPR win in the FA Cup] happened at the weekend, so that can be our starting point for what we want to do at Spurs.”
“There are many things [which explain our poor form], not only luck. There are mistakes, mistakes that we can control.
“Let’s avoid talking about referees, but football is a game of fine margins. It’s the ball that hits the post, an offside by two centimetres. We have to work to gain our luck. We have to go and fight for it.
“[Tottenham] is a good team, full of talented players. Always a tough place to go. We expect a very tough match and it’s a rival – it’s a London derby. We are going to have 30,000 fans. What they expect from us is that we put up a good fight, then we’ll see. It’s a tough opponent and we need to have a good result. Our focus is to go there and compete. There is a lot of football to be played, but each game is very, very important for us.”
West Ham boss determined to avoid the speculation over his future
Hammers News were told last week that Nuno still has the backing of David Sullivan and co in the boardroom.
“I can only speak for me. I try and ignore [the outside noise] as much as possible so as not to get distracted,” Nuno said when asked about the pressure his opposite number, Frank, is under.
“But then I get the briefing and I have to deal with you guys [the media], the ‘noise.’ It’s not so important for us as managers honestly, but I really try and shield our players from that noise because they need the peace of mind to perform.
“We have to block the noise and help the players focus on what really matters.”
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