West Ham United will keep Nuno Espírito Santo in charge after relegation to the Championship, with the club saying on Wednesday morning that the head coach will remain as it targets an immediate return to the Premier League. The decision came after board meetings with Nuno early in the week and after a season that ended in a 3-0 defeat to Leeds on Sunday.
The club also announced on Wednesday that season ticket prices would be reduced by up to 30%, a move that underlines how much the drop has changed the mood and the finances around the east London side. West Ham finished on 39 points, the highest total for a relegated team since 2011, but still went down and now face a summer of change with the trading out of assets expected to be part of the rebuild.
West Ham’s board said it had met Nuno early this week and was pleased to confirm that he had expressed his continued commitment to the club, adding that he was highly motivated by the challenge of taking West Ham back to the top flight at the first time of asking. The board said Sunday’s result was painful, but that there had been broader signs of improvement and progress in recent months, and it wanted him to keep developing that work.
Nuno took over from Graham Potter last September and was handed a job that only grew more difficult as the season drifted toward relegation. The Portuguese coach had a contract clause that allowed him to be sacked without compensation, but the club instead chose to stick with him after reviewing its options. Daniel Kretinsky is believed to have wanted Nuno to stay, while David Sullivan was less certain before the decision was made.
If the job had opened up, Scott Parker, Gary O’Neil and Slaven Bilic were among the names discussed. Parker’s record of three Championship promotions made him a familiar candidate for a club seeking an instant return, while Nuno already has his own promotion pedigree after leading Wolves out of the division in 2017-18 before establishing them as a Premier League side.
Nuno said the focus now had to be on the club rather than on him, adding that West Ham must get back into the Premier League and that the players and supporters first had to work through the sadness, frustration and anger that followed the fall. Jarrod Bowen also made clear where he wants the club to go, saying he wants West Ham in the Premier League and that his vision is to help take it back there. For a club that has just been relegated, the next step is not subtle: rebuild fast, keep the manager, cut costs where needed and try to make one season in the Championship last exactly that long.
