Nuno Eyes Academy Promotions in Coaching Shake-Up

It was no big surprise that West Ham’s new manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, would spend the international break assessing the composition of his coaching team.

After all, most of his Hammers first-team squad are away on international duty, and even some of the peripheral players are representing their countries at junior level.

Yesterday’s revelation from West Ham insider ExWHUEmployee — that we can expect Nuno to appoint a team of coaches this week — was the least newsworthy part of the update. What really caught my attention was that the new head coach of the Hammers may consider giving roles to some Academy coaches.

Smart Use of Academy Knowledge

Espirito Santo decided to jump straight into the West Ham hot seat as soon as he agreed to take the position. What impressed me most was his eagerness to start working immediately, even without his chosen backroom team.

Nuno quickly plundered the Academy for the likes of Mark Robson and Steve Potts, which was a shrewd decision. The former Nottingham Forest boss alluded to the fact that surrounding himself with West Ham coaches would allow him to learn about the club more quickly.

The move demonstrated not only Nuno’s confidence in his own ability as a coach but also his openness to new ideas. Promoting junior coaches to senior roles will have been a huge boost to everyone working at Academy level.

And if one or two of them can be retained after the manager finalises his coaching reshuffle at first-team level, then I, for one, am all for it.