But even if Nuno arrests the slide and goes into the break on the back of successive victories, can anyone really say with any certainty now that West Ham United have themselves a promotion-winning manager at the helm?

West Ham United are sticking with Nuno Espirito Santo – for now

Though the circumstances are different – from the division to the ambition – similarities can be drawn with the dreaded Avram Grant era in 2010/11.

The Hammers were rock bottom in the Premier League by November that season, winning only three of their first 14 games. The board opted to keep the faith – David Sullivan tends to show a lot more patience than many owners in the modern game – but all that ‘faith’ got them was relegation to the Championship.

Would they have survived if Grant had been given his P45 fourteen games in?

“You can say what you want about the West Ham board, the one thing they are is they are very loyal to the managers. Sometimes it goes on a bit too long!” Hammers legend Tony Cottee told talkSPORT back in 2025.

“Avram Grant was the prime example. He should have gone and they got relegated at the end of the season.”

The Hammers have slipped to eighth place and six points behind Middlesbrough

The other side of the coin says that, sometimes, even a decision made early in a season does not guarantee results. Graham Potter was replaced by Nuno after four games of the 2025/26 season, and the Hammers still went down.

There is a chance that, even if Nuno did get the boot this month, his successor would fall short of securing a place in the automatic promotion positions. But right now – West Ham set themselves a soft target of 92 points but are currently on track for 77 – even a place in the expanded, six-team play-offs appears in danger.

Now in eighth – the very last of the play-off positions – West Ham are closer to the bottom half [four points] than they are to league leaders Middlesbrough [six].

There is also a litany of Championship-proven managers West Ham could go for. Scott Parker, Kieran McKenna, Rob Edwards, Eddie Howe, Thomas Frank and Steve Cooper are all out of work, and have all secured promotions out of the second tier in the relatively recent past.

Often, managerial changes at this early stage of the season are described as a bit of a ‘roll the dice’. But for West Ham – twelfth in the five-game form table with only two wins from their last six – the bigger risk might be sticking by their man.

Featured comment

reubengane5

Gutted, we are not as good as we think we are, too pansy and tippy-tappy, just play Championship football otherwise we won’t get into the top six and get a Manager that can provide this, Bellamy for me.

Join the conversation →

Featured comment

donaghcorby1997

Nuno has got to go, that’s beyond question. What we need to know now is who’s going to replace him?

Join the conversation →

Featured comment

nickdomjan

I’d love to see McKenna however appreciate there will be a lot of competition for him and worry that we may be too poor to interest him. Another worth looking at is Joao Sacramento who can leave Morocco without compensation. He has a very impressive CV

Join the conversation →