Talks underway with potential replacements and the October international break just over a week away, all the stars appear to be aligning for a Graham Potter departure at West Ham United.
With the understandable acceptance that away trips to Everton and then Arsenal would hardly be the ideal welcome to West Ham for a new head coach, the feeling now is that Graham Potter is likely to say his goodbyes at some point after that Emirates Stadium clash on October 4th.
Hammers News can confirm that vice-chair Karren Brady discussed Wolves boss Vitor Pereira during her meeting with super-agent Jorge Mendes recently. But while Pereira has since signed a new three-year deal at the only Premier League club with fewer points than West Ham United, another of Mendes’ clients – Nuno Espirito Santo – remains very much in the running.
In addition to Nuno, Hammers News have been told by chief football correspondent Graeme Bailey that sporting director Mark Noble is an admirer of Burnley boss Scott Parker. Noble also appreciates the work Michael Carrick did at Middlesbrough, while another former Upton Park midfielder in Frank Lampard has rebuilt his reputation impressively at promotion-chasing Coventry City.
Pat Nevin can understand why his fellow Chelsea legend may be in contention, even if the relationship between fans and coach may take some mending. To some, the nature of Lampard’s departure a quarter of a century ago still rankles.
Jermaine Jenas says Nuno Espirito Santo is West Ham’s ‘frontrunner’
Jermaine Jenas, meanwhile, tells The Wildcards podcast that he has been made aware of the man currently in pole position.
Jenas, a former Tottenham, Newcastle and England midfielder, has worked for the likes of the BBC and talkSPORT since hanging up his boots, and may be speaking from a position of well-sourced authority on the matter.
He claims, a week after Brady discussed the West Ham job with Nuno, that a man who took Nottingham Forest from the brink of the relegation zone into the Europa League within just 17 months is the current ‘front-runner’ to take Potter’s job.
“I think [the upcoming international break will be] when that curtain is drawn,” Jenas begins. “I think, regardless of how this result goes at the weekend, after International break [or] in that International break, we’ll see a new manager.
“And I think I’m hearing that Nuno is the frontrunner for that.”
Pat Nevin talks up West Ham return for Coventry City’s Frank Lampard
Nuno Espirito Santo’s system suits some West Ham players nicely, on paper. Mateus Fernandes, Lucas Paqueta and Crysencio Summerville, for instance, could fill the roles he gave to Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga at Nottingham Forest.
Former Wolves captain Max Kilman credits Nuno, meanwhile, with setting him on his way to becoming a £40 million centre-half, even if his performances in claret and blue have made a mockery of that price-tag.
“Graham Potter is under huge pressure at the moment,” the aforementioned Nevin tells the Escapist Magazine, adding that the Hammers have little room for error while the newly-promoted trio of Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley are holding their own.
“Will Carrick be part of it? Yeah, I think he will. There’s lots of West Ham fans that wouldn’t accept Frank Lampard because they have booed him forever.
“I can understand why [the supporters] were miffed and annoyed because he was one of them, but he did grow to love and become Chelsea. There’s no doubt about that with Frank.
“I still don’t think that should stop West Ham supporters taking him on because he’s a good manager. He’s a very good manager.”
Nevin explains how Chelsea legend can succeed at the London Stadium
Nevin believes that Lampard, whose Coventry side came within a whisker of the Championship play-off final last season, would quickly turn any jeers into cheers with a winning start to life back in East London.
“He’s done OK at Coventry I think, and he’s shown that he’s in there for the battle. He’s had the Chelsea job, he’s had the Everton job, he’s had the Chelsea job twice. But it’s not beneath him to go and get the hands dirty at Coventry. So that’s a guy who wants to work, he cares about it, he loves it.
“I just don’t know how Frank would feel about the West Ham job. There’d be a wee bit of stick at the start, but I’ll make you a promise; If he won the first three or four games, the stick would go.”
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