West Ham Sack Nuno Espirito Santo After Poor Championship Start

West Ham United have dismissed head coach Nuno Espirito Santo following a poor start to their Championship campaign.

The club confirmed the decision on Monday, November 3, 2026. Nuno, 52, had been in charge since September 2025 and led the Hammers during their relegation from the Premier League last season.

BBC Sport reports that West Ham are in advanced talks with former Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley manager Scott Parker to replace him. Parker, who spent four seasons as a West Ham player, has won promotion from the Championship with both Bournemouth and Burnley.

The dismissal comes with West Ham sitting eighth in the Championship, six points behind leaders Middlesbrough.

Despite being tipped as favourites for automatic promotion, they have won only two of their last six league games and have lost consecutive home matches — 3-2 to Southampton and 3-1 to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday — a run that saw them slip from second.

The club also confirmed that assistant head coach Rui Pedro Silva and goalkeeper coach Rui Barbosa have left.

Academy staff Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville will take charge on an interim basis for Wednesday’s away trip to Cardiff City.

In a statement, the club said: “Following a thorough review of the start to the EFL Championship season, the board of directors believe that a change is necessary at this time in order to ensure that the club’s objectives and expectations remain on track.”

Nuno’s departure means West Ham are now searching for their fourth permanent manager since David Moyes left in May 2024.

Moyes’ successor Julen Lopetegui was sacked after six months after winning six of 20 Premier League games. Graham Potter then led the side to a 14th-placed finish before being dismissed in August 2025 with the club 19th in the Premier League. Nuno was appointed the following month but could not prevent relegation, with West Ham finishing two points below Tottenham.

West Ham started this season with no wins in their opening three league games and dropped to 19th. A run of four straight wins in early September, including a 6-0 victory over Wrexham, lifted them to the top of the table. Since then they have managed only two wins — 6-0 at nine-man Lincoln City and 1-0 at Swansea — alongside draws with Millwall and QPR.

Relegation forced significant turnover in the summer. The club reported losses of more than £104m and raised around £150m from the sales of Mateus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville, El Hadji Malick Diouf, James Ward-Prowse and Freddie Potts.

They reinvested part of that sum, paying a Championship-record £22m to Celtic for midfielder Arne Engels and a reported £12m for Norwegian winger Edvin Austbo. Joel Veltman and Manor Solomon arrived on free transfers from Brighton and Tottenham, while key figures Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavropanos were retained.

Soucek missed the first two months of the season with an ankle injury, while new signings have struggled for impact. Engels has three assists in 12 appearances and Austbo has two goals and two assists having started only twice in the league.

Parker has been out of work since leaving Burnley after their relegation from the Premier League in May.