Michail Antonio points blame at Graham Potter after West Ham’s relegation with ‘didn’t understand the culture’ jibe
Potter failed to understand Hammers ‘culture’
In a revealing interview with The i Paper following West Ham’s drop from the top flight, Antonio didn’t hold back on his assessment of where things went wrong. The forward, who left the club in June 2025 following a life-altering car accident, pointed directly at Potter’s managerial approach as the catalyst for the club’s staggering decline from Conference League winners to a relegated side.
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“I just feel like Graham Potter came in and tried to change too much,” Antonio explained. “As a manager, you’ve got to come in and understand the culture of the club. And I just don’t feel like he did. He came in, he got rid of all the senior pros: me, Lukasz Fabianski, Aaron Cresswell, Vladimir Coufal, Edson Alvarez – the captain of Mexico.”
Leading the squad into a vacuum
Leading the squad into a vacuum
Antonio was particularly critical of Potter’s public complaints regarding a lack of leadership within the dressing room, arguing that the manager was the one who had cleared out the veteran voices in the first place. The Jamaican international suggested that the squad was left in a “bad stead” before the 2025-26 season even gathered momentum due to these tactical and personnel shifts.
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Potter was ultimately sacked in late September 2025 after winning just six of his 25 games in charge, and his replacement, Nuno Espirito Santo, was ultimately unable to lift the Hammers’ fortunes thereafter.
Antonio laid out his frustrations clearly: “Then within three, four weeks of getting rid of those players and the season starts, the first thing he says is, we have no leaders in the changing room. How can you say you’ve got no leaders in the changing rooms if you get rid of all the leaders? So it was just, I feel like it was Graham Potter, who kind of put the team in bad stead.
“I was like, if they get relegated, it’s the only way the club’s going to feel it, the owner’s going to feel it. But now I’ve got rid of all the frustration and anger, I actually feel bad for the boys. I actually want the club to do well now – before I was just angry at everything.”
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Strained relations with Karren Brady
The forward also opened up about his exit from the club, describing how his relationship with vice-chairman Karren Brady soured during contract negotiations after his serious car crash. While he praised her personal support initially, the business side of the relationship became “ruthless” when he was offered a contract worth just £5,000-a-week with no path back to the first team.
Recalling the conversation, Antonio said: “If you’re going to give me a contract and I can’t play for the first team, at least give me a contract that’s more than what the under-21s are on. Her response was, ‘well they haven’t broken their leg in a massive car crash. We don’t know what the outcome is going to be’. I was just like, ‘alright’. Thank you very much.”
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Life in Qatar and facing rocket fire
Life in Qatar and facing rocket fire
Now playing for Qatari side Al-Sailiya, Antonio’s new chapter has been anything but quiet. His arrival in the Middle East coincided with an escalation of regional conflict, leading to some terrifying experiences during his first days in the country.
Describing the scene from his hotel, Antonio said: “On the first day, all the bombs were hitting, that was scary. I was looking out my window and seeing fire from the rockets going past my hotel window. The hotel was shaking. But other than that, it was fine.”
