West Ham United have sacked head coach Nuno Espírito Santo after a disappointing start to their first season back in the Championship.
The club confirmed the decision on Tuesday, November 3, three days after a 3-1 home defeat by West Bromwich Albion at the London Stadium. It was West Ham’s second straight loss at home.
Promotion favourites struggling
West Ham were relegated from the Premier League last season and were widely expected to bounce straight back. Instead, they have won only six of their 13 league games and sit eighth in the table, the last play-off place, six points behind leaders Middlesbrough. They have lost three of their seven home matches.
In a statement, the club said the board had reviewed the start to the season and decided that a change was needed. It thanked Nuno and his staff for their work.
Assistant head coach Rui Pedro Silva and goalkeeper coach Rui Barbosa have also left.
Noble steps in for now
Club legend Mark Noble, along with Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville, will take charge of preparations for Wednesday’s trip to Cardiff City and Saturday’s game away at Blackburn Rovers. West Ham say the search for a permanent head coach has already begun.
Kept on after relegation
Nuno was appointed in September 2025, replacing Graham Potter, with the task of steering the club away from the relegation zone. He could not prevent West Ham going down, but the board kept faith with him in May and backed him to lead the promotion push.
That faith has now run out barely three months into the new campaign.
Nuno’s career
The Portuguese coach, a former goalkeeper, made his name in England by leading Wolverhampton Wanderers to promotion from the Championship in 2018 and then to two straight seventh-place finishes in the Premier League, along with a Europa League quarter-final.
His spell at Tottenham Hotspur in 2021 lasted only a few months. He later coached Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, winning the league title, before rebuilding his reputation at Nottingham Forest, whom he led into European contention.
What next for West Ham?
With more than two-thirds of the season still to play, West Ham remain well in the hunt for promotion. But the next appointment will be crucial for a club whose finances and squad were built for the Premier League, and whose fans expect an immediate return to the top flight.
Sources: West Ham United, BBC Sport, LBC, Goal.
