West Ham United’s ‘restructuring’ following their relegation from the Premier League is now both essential and urgent, with the club needing to sell players first and foremost and then try to pull together a squad fit for a promotion push.
One piece of the jigsaw, at least, appears to have been put in place last week with the confirmation that Nuno Espírito Santo will stay on at the club for the 2026/7 campaign.
The jury is still out over whether his assistant head coach Paco Jemez will join him: Social media posts over the weekend offered cause for optimism amongst Hammers fans but nothing yet has been confirmed from Jemez or from inside West Ham.
Uncertainty surrounds the Director of Football appointment at West Ham
The ‘Technical Director’ / ‘Director of Football’ post, however, is an entirely issue altogether.
Middlesboro’s Kieran Scott – fresh claims that his agent was the one doing the pushing, not West Ham United
Recent links suggesting the Hammers had approached Middlesboro’s Kieran Scott for the vacancy appear to have the wrong end of the stick: At least that is the claim from our own transfer source- close to several players but outside the club hierarchy – who asserts that:
“West Ham didn’t make any approach for Kieran Scott; instead it was his agent Will Salthouse who was [doing what agents do] trying to impose him upon us.
West Ham did put out feelers via agents for two other candidates, both of whom were higher priorities, but both of whom rejected West Ham’s approach”
Whether one of those approached – who turned down the chance to work within the London Stadium chaos – was former Dynamo Dresden head of recruitment Paul Wagner is not known.
What is clear is that it is proving a tough appointment to make and suggestions that an announcement is due this week may be a trifle over optimistic. Whoever does get the gig, from our source’s words it sounds as if Kieran Scott was far from the West Ham board’s first choice. Which leaves them with something of a problem.
And the clock is ticking.
Theres is reason we are in the championship..Sullivan
Theres a reason we dont own a stadium…sullivan
Theres a reason the club is in huge debt… Sullivan.
Theres a reason we have one of the worse training facilities in the top 2 tiers… sullivan
Dispense with the role while Nuno is in charge, he doesn’t work with DoF’s like Moyes so what is the point in wasting money on a person that if they sign players has no guarantee the manager will play them.
We have been down this road before and know how the story ends with more dysfunction and negative media.
If we want to do something different learning from mistakes would be a good start, if a DoF is the way forward spend a season putting in a structure that will support them and when the time is right move Nuno on and hire a manager that can thrive with a DoF.
Yes, the best people in football might not want to come to West Ham while it is a dysfunctional shambles. And it appears that won’t change until & unless Sullivan is reduced to being just a shareholder with no sole executive authority. Sullivan has <50 % of the shares so the others could make that happen. But no doubt there's all sort of politics etc which make it easier said than done in their eyes. Company directors do have a statutory obligation to promote company success – ie make decisions in good faith that benefit the shareholders and the company as a whole. Also to exercise independent judgment – ie avoid letting others dictate board votes or business decisions.
People turning you down, means you are not a good proposition. This should be a great job but there will be reasons why it’s not, and I think we could all make an educated guess as to what those are.
Why is everybody surprised of false propaganda coming out of W Ham Theres only one man in charge there and that’s Sullivan with final say picking players MORES THE PITY NOTHING WILL EVER CHANGE AT OUR CLUB MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT THAT We are down for a long period of time now
why any director of football would work at west ham with Sullivan sitting behind interfering all the time is beyond any sane person.
until Sullivan is moved away from anything to do with the team it will continue to be a shambles.
He can’t help himself unfortunately.
Agreed. It’s not an attractive role to anyone whilst he’s involved. And given our track record of how we have treated people behind the scenes most people would know they have 18-24 months at best before we rip up the plan and change direction.