West Ham: Nuno Espirito Santo to continue as head coach despite relegation from Premier League to Championship
Nuno Espirito Santo will continue as West Ham boss, despite their relegation from the Premier League.
Nuno and the club’s hierarchy had been in talks since Monday over his future.
He signed a three-year deal when he took over from Graham Potter in September. Both West Ham and the Portuguese had the option to walk away from each other for free following relegation.
A club statement on Wednesday said: “We held meetings with head coach Nuno Espirito Santo early this week and are pleased to confirm that he has expressed his continued commitment to the club – as we have to him.
“Nuno made it very clear that he is highly motivated for the challenge of guiding West Ham United back to the top flight at the first time of asking. That must be the unquestionable goal for next season.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from West Ham’s match against Leeds in the Premier League.
“Nuno has spent one previous year in the Championship and it was an outstanding success as he secured 99 points to win the title with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2018.
“While the ultimate outcome on Sunday was a painful one, the board of directors believe that there have been broader signs of improvement and progress in recent months, and we want Nuno to continue developing that progress.”
Nuno guided the Hammers to 39 points after victory over Leeds on the final day of the season, but they still fell into the Championship with the highest points total for a relegated side in 15 years.
Nuno took over from Potter, who lost five of his first six games of the season.
Nuno – who won 12 of his 37 matches at the London Stadium – was himself sacked by Nottingham Forest just weeks before arriving in east London.
Right call? Neville urged Hammers to keep Nuno
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Gary Neville discusses what he thinks West Ham now need to do to ensure that they can bounce back next season from their relegation to the Championship
Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast on Sunday, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville had urged West Ham to stick with Nuno. He wants them to ensure captain Jarrod Bowen stays on too.
“”The manager and Bowen are the two most important figures. I think they need to lock that in quite quickly,” Neville said.
“I’ll be amazed if West Ham’s ownership haven’t put a huge incentive forward to Nuno to stay.
“If they were smart, they would announce that in the next 48 hours.
“By the end of the week, you want to try and lock Jarrod Bowen in with a big contract to stay, which will be difficult because they are going to lose a lot of revenue this year.
“That then stabilises the dressing room potentially and stabilises the fanbase somewhat from where they will be [on Sunday night] which is absolutely desperately disappointed.
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Speaking after West Ham were relegated from the Premier League, Jarrod Bowen reiterated that he’s under contract with the club next season and that his vision is to help the Hammers get back to the top flight
“It’s about stabilising beyond this. They have probably planned for this for a number of weeks. You’d have to, not just financially but also because of resources and personnel.
“It’s important they get some good PR messages out there quite quickly.”
