Former West Ham manager Graham Potter’s first press conference still lingers in my memory — hardly surprising given how frequently this club changes its manager.
Potter turned up on the day outgoing boss Julen Lopetegui was still in the building, sat down in front of the WHUFC.com media team, and delivered his manifesto to fans.
Potter said he’d look under the bonnet to see what West Ham needed
There was talk about building trust between the team and supporters, followed by an interesting metaphor about “looking under the bonnet”. But what really caught the eye (or ears) was how the new gaffer set about blowing smoke up the Academy of Football’s backside, lavishing praise on Mark Noble, the coaches and the players.
Potter’s Promises Fade Away
Potter seemed to know everything about the academy — from the 2023 FA Youth Cup triumph to the importance of homegrown talent on the pitch connecting with fans in the stands. And for a short while, he backed it up: Ollie Scarles was drafted into the side, and even Lewis Orford got a few minutes of first-team action.
But it wasn’t to last. Scarles was dropped and nobody from the academy was brought in to replace him. Potter’s team gradually got older, eventually becoming the second-oldest side in the Premier League — with a string of geriatric performances to match.
In essence, Potter’s initial promises and platitudes turned out to be hollow words. And that’s why I’ve appreciated the no-nonsense arrival of Nuno Espirito Santo.
Nuno has been happy to use West Ham academy players and coaches
Nuno’s Refreshing Approach
At this embryonic stage, I couldn’t tell you if Nuno will be good, bad, or indifferent. West Ham have played just two games under his guidance, claiming a single point. It’s early days.
But what stands out is that he’s promised little and delivered plenty. There has been no big talk about academies or encyclopaedic knowledge of Hammers history. Instead, he appointed a group of academy coaches to “help me learn about West Ham.” Lovely stuff.
Rather than promising an influx of younger players, he just did it. Out went James Ward-Prowse, in came 21-year-old Magassa. And he wasn’t finished there — academy stars Freddie Potts and Callum Marshall both got more than 30 minutes at the Emirates against Arsenal. Nuno didn’t need to say, “If you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” because his actions said it for him.
A Quiet Authority
I’ll need to see more before passing proper judgement, but there’s a quiet authority about Espirito Santo that I suspect is exactly what the club needs right now.
Nuno has a big task ahead of him, no doubt. But one thing I’m confident of: we’ll be seeing more of Freddie Potts before we see James Ward-Prowse or Guido Rodríguez.
Not that the manager has said as much… he doesn’t have to.
I agree 100 percent with you on this article Gonzo .
Potter was quite simply a football fraud who talked about playing good football with young players !!
He played old players , sometimes without a striker and every other pass went back !
I have a really good feeling about Numo and in his 2 games he has constantly played a front 3 . I doubt Potter played 3 up front in more than 2 games in his 9 months …. Apart when he was 2-0 down and panicking!
Quite honestly I don’t think we were ready for Potters way of playing and I don’t think the players were good enough. I don’t think we had the players to play that passing style in an attacking way. Players that had years under Moyes defensive style are naturally going to be better now we’ve gone back to that style with Nuno.
He is doing things we want to see, players are fighting to win the ball, youth is preferred over has beens, though we need to see him translate that into results, he seems to be good defensive coach, organises the team to be hard to beat but we still have to create and take chances and as it stands we have the penetration of a eunuch. Work to be done, I like what I hear and it is steps in a direction that could be good though the jury will remain out until we climb the table and that should start with a below average Brentford a week on Monday !!!
Is this really the best you can do; arguably a snide post about Potter. I’m confident that he didn’t take the job planning to fail, yet here he is, out of work, being sniped at by people who have not walked a mile in his shoes, yet have appointed themselves experts on his failings.
You can’t argue the board are to blame for the failings at West Ham and then rip apart the ex-managers at every opportunity. Both Lopetegui and Potter accepted the poisoned chalice believing it was within their abilities to fix things. Nuno has the benefit of knowing what a toxic situation he has walked in to and, as important, has the experience of working effectively in toxic environments.
You could have just focused on the positives around Nuno; that may have been worth the read.
And this is why other sites switch their comments off! It’s laughable that you have taken the moral high ground when you began you’re post with a snide dig.
“Is this really the best that you can do?” How aloof and condescending is that? It’s my opinion on Nuno, that’s it?
Here’s a thought . . . why not send in a blog and I’ll publish it. Alternatively try and be polite. By all means argue the point but if you can’t do so without being nasty then jog on and read any one of the other West Ham sites.
Keep up the comments Gonzo we need a site that has the cuts to keep them open, good job !!!
It was a difficult situation for Graham Potter to step into as manager, with the squad at the time consisting of a relatively large number of older players who were on their way out of the club. There also weren’t many younger players available when he took over. It’s understandable that these older players — with big egos, considerable wealth, and a lack of pace — were less than enthusiastic about being integrated into an advanced tactical system.