Credit: Imago

Evan Lloyd

Wed 27 May 2026 19:00, UK

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Nuno Espirito Santo has been backed to lead West Ham United back out of the Championship next season.

The Hammers announced on Wednesday that after meetings with the Portuguese manager this week, it has been decided that he will stay on in the second tier.

West Ham were officially relegated from the Premier League on Sunday despite beating Leeds United 3-0, after Everton failed to beat Tottenham in North London.

Nuno was appointed in September to take over from Graham Potter, and at several points, looked to be guiding the Irons towards safety.

But West Ham’s form would ultimately be too inconsistent for Premier League survival, with a summer of change expected.

Why West Ham have backed Nuno Espirito Santo

Football Insider exclusively revealed on Tuesday that West Ham were considering Scott Parker’s appointment if they had decided to sack Nuno.

The former Hammer mutually agreed to leave Burnley in April, after relegation from the Premier League had been confirmed.

Parker has never managed to be successful as a manager in the top flight, but his Championship record not to be sniffed at.

The 45-year-old has led Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley out of the second tier, and may well have done the same for West Ham.

Nuno also has some experience in the Championship, having overseen a successful Wolves promotion push in the 2017-18 season.

That campaign, in which his side finished top of the league on 99 points, may well have informed West Ham’s decision.

That season has a caveat, however, and decision-makers at the London Stadium have surely taken it into account.

Nuno’s extraordinary Wolves squad

The Wolves squad that Nuno took up to the Premier League in 2018 is widely considered among the best Championship squads ever to be created.

Leading goal-scorer was Diogo Jota, who would later go on to win the Premier League with Liverpool before sadly passing away last year.

Also in that squad were future Premier League regulars Willy Boly, Matt Doherty, Morgan Gibbs-White, Helder Costa and Conor Coady.

Perhaps the best player of all, however, was Ruben Neves, who ran the show in the middle of the park and will, this summer, do the same for Portugal at the World Cup.

Nuno, of course, deserves huge credit for getting a team of such gifted players to adapt to a physical league and perform well together.

But West Ham may be in for a reality check when their team is pulled apart and not quite at the same technical level as that Wolves team was.

The Hammers have undoubtedly made their decision on more than one factor, but its importance cannot be undermined – failure to achieve automatic promotion would be catastrophic.