• Favourites for promotion sit eighth in Championship

• Key figures at club losing patience with manager

Nuno Espírito Santo’s future at West Ham is under threat after a disappointing start to the season. West Ham are struggling to live up to their billing as Championship favourites and dropped to eighth after losing 3-1 to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

West Ham are intent on an instant return to the Premier League after Nuno failed to save them from relegation last season, but the setback against West Brom put another dent in their promotion push. West Ham occupy the final playoff spot after two consecutive defeats at home and are four points below second placed Swansea City. Nuno is expected to be given time to turn the situation around but key figures have become increasingly impatient. The manager faced unrest from supporters during the West Brom game.

The initial expectation was that Nuno would be fired after taking West Ham down last season. Sources indicated that David Sullivan, the club’s largest shareholder at the time, wanted to part company with the former Nottingham Forest manager. Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire, was in Nuno’s corner and is understood to have argued for continuity.

Sullivan then resigned as a joint-chair and director of West Ham to fight what he described as “false allegations” concerning his personal conduct. Kretinsky became West Ham’s biggest shareholder in September, buying a stake of 46%. The agreement saw Sullivan, who is not on the board, increase his stake from 38% to 40%.

Any decision on Nuno’s future will be a collective board decision. Karim Virani, the interim CEO, and Nils Koppen, the director of recruitment, will have their say. West Ham, who visit Cardiff City on Wednesday, are unhappy after a run of two wins in six games and Nuno is likely to face difficult questions if he cannot inspire an improvement before this month’s international break.

West Ham turned to Nuno after firing Graham Potter in September 2025. The 52-year-old’s tactics and signings did not convince last season and the problems have continued since relegation. West Ham sold Crysencio Summerville and Mateus Fernandes after going down but they held on to Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek. They broke the EFL transfer record when they signed Arne Engels from Celtic for £22m.

The feeling within West Ham is that they have the best squad in the Championship and should be playing better. But Nuno has struggled to settle on his best 11 and various problems have emerged. West Ham have kept three clean sheets in 13 games. They have started games slowly, conceding the first goal on six occasions.

Their strikers – Joel Piroe, Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos – all joined under Nuno and have five league goals between them this season. Bowen is the top scorer with seven but West Ham lack a clear playing identity and have not found the right balance in midfield. The squad contains two holding midfielders but Soungoutou Magassa and Edson Alvarez are both out of favour.

West Ham still hope that Nuno can lead a push up the table. There have been some positive signs, including 6-0 wins over Wrexham and Lincoln City, although the latter were reduced to nine men in the first half. West Ham’s best performance of the season was their gritty 1-0 win away to Swansea, suggesting they are better when there is less pressure on them to dominate games.