They say opposites attract and, in some ways, that explains why Nuno Espirito Santo – Rui Pedro Silva has worked so well. A partnership that will now be revisited at West Ham United.
The current Wolves coach did not follow Nuno to the London Stadium following the sacking of Graham Potter last September. It was speculated at the time that Nottingham Forest had blocked a reunion between the two long-time confidantes and former flatmates.
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According to The Telegraph’s John Percy, though, Rui Pedro Silva will belatedly now join Nuno Espirito Santo’s coaching staff ahead of West Ham United’s Championship campaign.
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An appointment Percy describes as a ‘huge boost’ to Nuno’s hopes of an immediate return to the Premier League.
Nuno Espirito Santo and Rui Pedro Silva to be reunited at West Ham United
A 49-year-old born in Porto, Silva and Nuno go back a long way.
Before Nuno was appointed as the manager of Rio Ave, bringing Silva with him, the oft-inseparable pair had already worked together behind the scenes at Malaga and Panathinaikos.
In fact, West Ham will be the eighth club the pair have linked up at. The other seven being Malaga, Panathinaikos, Rio Ave, Valencia, Porto, Wolves and Nottingham Forest.
Barring a brief spell in sole charge of Famalicao in 2021/22, Silva has worked mostly as a number two for the last 16 years. He prides himself on helping to create a familial feel in the dressing room, while viewing every member of the playing, coaching and behind-the-scenes staff as integral parts of the same whole.
“I could be assistant coach. I could be goalkeeping coach. But if we need someone to put water on the pitch, I will [do that]. No problem,” Silva told Wolves Weekly back in 2023, reminiscing about one of many moments in which everyone came together during a period of adversity.
“I remember one of our games was cancelled because of snow. We had to go back and start the training session, but the pitch was frozen.
“I remember everybody came out with a shovel and cleaned all the snow.”
Silva will have no problem telling Nuno ‘no’ at West Ham
Silva was an ever-present on the Molineux touchline when Nuno led Wolves to the Championship title in 2017. In that same interview with Wolves Weekly, he would explain his role in Nuno’s set-up. His job, it seems, was to play devil’s advocate, to come up with alternative gameplans while keeping spirits high and throwing himself into the administrative tasks with typical intensity.
“I was the guy who tried to fight the ideas!,” he chuckled. “Nuno said, ‘you always say no to my ideas!’
“I’m not trying to say no, just trying to add one more idea! I was always the guy who tried to discuss with Nuno and view [things from] different ways.
“My role was very close to Matt [Hobbs, Wolves then-sporting director]. The organisation for the trips, planning the hotel, where we are going to train; I always tried to put myself inside the organisation of the club.
“I was close to Matt, to the analysis department, to the scouting department, meetings every week with Jeff Shi [owner]. [Working] 24 hours per day. I would do it again, no doubt!
“[Nuno and I] lived together in Greece, in Athens, in Malaga,” Silva reminisced. “In those years, we built a different relationship, not only as a manager and assistant but as friends who lived together overseas.
“I look to Nuno as a manager because he makes the final decision, but I don’t have any kind of problems talking to Nuno. He knows that. It’s always important for a coach to have someone behind him to make things calm, [saying], ‘OK, we can solve everything’. Even inside the dressing room. ‘Everything will be OK. What you need, how you feel, will will try and solve that’.
“The most important thing is to build the club.”
The expectation is that Silva will replace Paco Jemez as West Ham’s number two.
Shortly after arriving in East London, Jemez and Nuno were seen arguing on the touchline during a 3-1 victory over Sunderland. The sprightly Spaniard explained that away, saying that it was a classic, healthy, mid-game debate between two coaches.
Clearly, Silva is not one to shy away from similar discussions.
Silva has found himself at the heart of plenty of flashpoints. A yellow card flashed in his direction became a regular sight during Forest and Wolves fixtures, especially after he returned to Molineux to join Rob Edwards’ coaching staff last December.
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Take, for instance, a hot-headed 2-2 draw between Brighton and Forest. Silva was booked for his vociferous protests following a Morgan Gibbs-White red card. Silva then had to calm himself down and face the TV cameras after Nuno was dismissed.
“I just need to be careful with the yellow cards, because sometimes the anger and the passion mix a little bit with the fighting!” Silva said following his return to Wolves. “For sure, that passion, I’ll never lose it.
“Sometimes there is a line between the passion and the fighting, but sometimes it’s needed.”
Former Wolves coach wants to add another Championship title to his CV
In addition to helping Nuno guide Wolves to promotion in 2017, Silva was part of a club who established themselves immediately in the Premier League, even reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa League. He was also present as Nottingham Forest went from relegation battlers to European qualifiers in the space of a year-and-a-half.
Silva looks back fondly on his first experience of English football; the 2016/17 season in which Wolves recorded 30 wins and 99 points.
Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has tasked Nuno with bringing Premier League football back at West Ham at the first time of asking. Silva knows from experience what is required to make that ambition a reality. You certainly won’t find him underestimating the size of the challenge facing the Hammers over the next ten months.
“The Championship is a different league for others. I remember Diogo [Jota, the much-missed Wolves legend] told me ‘it would be easier to play in the Premier League! I don’t have time, people are always around me. It’s very hard in the Championship’,” Silva explained.
“Everybody should experience the Championship once. It’s relentless. Every game was a fight.
“[We succeeded because of] the pressure we put inside of us; one of the points that made us so successful. Every week, there was pressure. You need to fight in the Championship because sometimes people create doubts.
“We as a team said no [to the cynics]; We need to win our space, fight for our space. Sometimes, you need to fight.”
But remember Rui – a man with almost as many cards as Clinton’s – the ‘need to fight’ does not always mean literally.
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