Richard Keys: Nuno Espirito Santo facing ‘abuse’ from West Ham owners
West Ham have been tipped by Richard Keys to “abuse’ Nuno Espirito Santo before soon discarding him.
West Ham sacked Graham Potter on Saturday (27 September) and appointed Nuno hours later after a poor start to the new campaign in which they had won just one of their first six games in league and cup.
Nuno held talks with West Ham bosses about potentially taking charge while Potter was still at the helm in a move that was roundly condemned by pundits and fans of the club.
Reports stated that West Ham’s senior squad members were backing Potter, but the club still sacked him prior to Monday (29 September) night’s trip to Everton.
Keys thinks Nuno will regret taking West Ham job and he will be out of the door soon
West Ham fans are unhappy with co-owners Karren Brady and David Sullivan right now as the club stagnates in the Premier League despite recent promise of being able to consolidate themselves in upper echelons of the top-flight.
Nuno has had his own recent struggles with owners, after he was sacked by Evangelos Marinakis at Nottingham Forest on 9 September following internal tensions around public comments on how their relationship had changed.
Richard Keys, who is a presenter and broadcaster for beIN SPORTS, wrote on his blog post on Monday (29 September) that he believes Nuno will not last at West Ham due to potential disagreements with Brady and Sullivan, and the Portuguese head-coach will wish he never agreed to taking over in East London.
He said: “Nuno will eventually regret ever having taken the job. It’s only a matter of time before he leaves saying exactly the same things about [Karren] Brady and [David] Sullivan as all the other coaches they’ve abused.
“I’ll say it again – I genuinely feel sorry for West Ham fans. Coaches will continue to come and go through the revolving door there and the club will remain a mess behind the scenes.”
Nuno did well at Forest, despite his eventual sacking, but it will be tough for him to replicate such form at the London Stadium as long as their issues continue behind the scenes.
West Ham bosses must give Nuno time to succeed
Potter is the latest in a long line of West Ham managers who have been relieved of their duties or left the club under a dark cloud, with David Moyes even forced out of the club by mutual consent last summer despite winning the Conference League.
Nuno led Forest to safety from relegation in his first half-season at the helm, and they made some brilliant strides forward last term as he guided them to a seventh-placed finish and qualification for the Europa League.
| Games managed | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points-per-game |
| 71 | 30 | 15 | 26 | 1.50 |
He was only really let go due to disagreements behind the scenes at the City Ground, and Marinakis may well be regretting his decision with Ange Postecoglou still yet to win in his first five games in charge.
West Ham bosses will likely have jumped at sacking Potter and hiring Nuno simply due to him being available, and so they have to allow him time to bed in to change their losing mentality over time.
Results are unlikely to be instant, given their current form, but his track record at Forest and before that at Wolves shows that he deserves a number of months to take the club back up the table now that they have put their faith in him to turn it around.