Having to watch on, powerless as Tottenham Hotspur look for the solitary point they need to send West Ham tumbling down to the Championship will be the lowlight of a depressing couple of seasons in east London. From the highs of Prague to the very nadir of relegation in such a short time frame sums up how badly West Ham have been run and managed.
Now the blame game begins in east London
Fingers of blame have been pointed at Sullivan and Brady for their part in the demise of arguably London’s proudest: In addition far from seeing Nuno Espírito Santo as the saviour who came up short, BBC’s chief football writer Simon Stone sees him as just as complicit in the final failure of the Hammers to dodge the relegation bullet:
“Nuno arrived with a point to prove..having appointed him on a three-year contract last September and seen him preside over the 10-match run without a win that ultimately left the Hammers with too much ground to make up, it could also be argued Nuno shoulders a significant portion of blame for what has happened and he should go as well.“
Nuno Espirito Santo: Lectured on ‘belief’ but couldn’t get points on the board
Few would argue with that: The utterly nonsensical tactical switch against Newcastle, the negativity against Crystal Palace and ‘that’ early run that saw endless tinkering and a failure to put a win on the board for two months when he arrived will be seen in hindsight to be just as much of a contribution to the Hammers’ plight as Graham Potter’s woeful start.
‘Points make prizes’ and Nuno, like Potter before him, failed the club in that respect.
Hopefully, he’ll do the decent thing and walk out the door on Sunday evening. Sullivan has neither the cojones nor the cash to fire another West Ham manager (his own appointment, let it not be forgotten) and the last thing a relegated West Ham side needs is to start their ‘promotion season’ with Negative Nuno at the helm.
Sullivan does not own the club, he is a major shareholder but not the majority shareholder as far as we know. The club’s league form has been grim since January 2024. Last season there were three worse teams. This season we are one of the three worst teams, which was depressingly inevitable sooner or later. Nuno inherited a terrible situation — two basket case managers following one who had lost the plot half way through a season. Whether another available manager could have done better we’ll never know. If I were Nuno I would be off at the end of the season. The strong rumour is that his contract allows either party to end it penalty free in the event of relegation. Whether Sullivan throws him under the bus remains to be seen, but even Sullivan can’t be stupud enough to think that will let him off the hook. With Sullivan doing the picking we can’t be at all condfident that a replacement manager would be any better. And if Sullivan is still in charge of player sales and recruitment we may not have a squad that can survive in the Championship let alone be promoted from it. The only bright spot is that the match attending experience might be better in the Championship, with no VAR, no big club bias, a more attractive general style of football, & less churning of fixtures and kick off times. And hopefully being in a dvision where West Ham, as it stands, can find its niche and not.be outclassed & outplayed by the considerable majority of visiting clubs. To go beyond that will need a complete change of management of the club, root and branch, in order to introduce modern methods, professionalism, ambition, and a winning mentality. Unfortunately whether and when that might happen we have no idea.
When any company underperforms to the level we have, you can’t blame the employees and their manager but the direction from the top. Companies fail due to the wrong leadership and decisions coming from the executives. West Ham is no different. 3 managers since losing Moyes and each expected to work miracles with the poor decisions from the board. All of this in the space of 38 games to prove they can remove the ever growing mould in the club. You cannot stop rot if you don’t address the source and put source of failure is Sullivan.
Absolutely right.
Nuno has at least instilled some fight and did well to give us a chance, just not quite enough in the end. Nuno also has experience in getting teams promoted in that league so would be happy for him to stay but MUST play attacking football on front foot with high press etc. Can he change his defensive mindset?
I want to see us playing like Aston Villa and others like them with pace from the middle and up front. Clearly with good recruitment and a positive manager it can be done.
There were lost points due to Nuno is for sure, but he did get some fight together and was the best available at his time of appointment given that no money was ever going to be spent on a manager.
Sort of pros and cons from where I’m looking.
The board take the flak from me, unhinged decisions that none of us here would have made. We should not be in this position but we are due to the board.
I am angry about it, I see blokes here putting in a lot of effort for the enjoyment of it and against Newcastle 3-1 down all that could be heard was the away support. They all deserve more.
Throwing Nuno under the bus is harsh. Since he had opportunity to shape the squad in January we have looked half decent most of the time. The last 3 games have cost us but ultimately it was starting the season with a poor squad that was the biggest issue. Personally I hope he stays as the next Sullivan pick is almost bound to be worse.
Nuno signed 4 players and none started against Newcastle 🙈 castellanos only decent player and spent 20 m on a player that cost 250,000 6 months earlier wtf conveniently through his agent pal !! Nunos selecting pablo with one assist in about 20 games wtf. Playing Diouf ahead of scales wtf , he can’t tackle and doesn’t link up with Summerville unlike scarles did. Taking off attacking players before penalties in fa cup WTF , playing Kilman full stop WTF. Playing scarles on the right and bisaka on the left wtf !! No Nuno has relegated us full stop
Martin it’s the club that’s wrong not Nuno He was brought in with no backup staff The owners the players the training ground are not premier class Decisions have been poor 24 months passed by before we decided to buy a c forward Bowen should not be captain Our Mexican Alvarez loaned out was a terrible choice captins his country but not good enough for us Ward Prowse has been isolated 2 years of complacency is bringing what we deserve now imn afraid to say
All emanates from the clueless, hopeless buffoon that is Sullivan.
How this incompetent clown is still “running” this club is beyond a joke.
Numerous manager failings and shocking recruitment have got us to the point of no return.
While he still remains at the club, we are doomed.
And yes, agreed Martin, Nuno needs to be on his way. One up top against Lincoln won’t cut the mustard !!
Kenny, Sullivan still runs it because Sullivan owns it.
Yes he owns the club with his money not with his heart BUT NOT THE FANS So let him face up to an half empty stadium next season
That will certainly teach him a lesson Mick.
Sullivan doesn’t “own” the club at all, he has a SHARE in it and if the other shareholders had a backbone they’d outvote the preferred clown and banish him from making any decisions
Realise that, Martin !! but we’ll be playing Derby games against Leyton Orient soon – half empty stadiums next season might force his hand.