West Ham ‘make Nuno Espirito Santo sack decision’ after ‘huge’ twist
West Ham are unlikely to sack Nuno Espirito Santo as things stand despite suffering a huge defeat to Fulham in the context of their relegation battle.
That is according to former West Ham and Man United senior scout Mick Brown, who remains very well-connected within the game, as he exclusively told Football Insider that the Hammers hope Nuno will be the man to turn their form around.
Following West Ham’s 1-0 defeat against Fulham at the London Stadium last time out, odds on Nuno to be sacked have been slashed, with pressure growing.
The former Nottingham Forest boss has won just two of his 13 matches in charge at the East London club, who have now dropped to 18th in the Premier League table.
With five points separating them from Forest in 17th, there are growing fears that they could soon be cut adrift in the relegation zone.
West Ham make Nuno Espirito Santo sack decision
Brown told Football Insider on 21 December that West Ham are at risk of being relegated due to their inability to grind out wins and pick up scrappy points.
The former scout, who has a wealth of experience working closely alongside elite-level managers including Sir Alex Ferguson for over a decade at Man United, insisted there are concerns about Nuno, but he is currently unlikely to be sacked.
“There are a lot of issues at West Ham at the moment,” he told Football Insider.
“I don’t think Nuno is one of them. He’s shown what he can do and there have been improvements since he came in, but they need to start winning games.
“Results haven’t been good enough and usually that means there’s going to be pressure on the manager and questions are going to be asked.
“But from what I hear, I think they’re keen to stick by Nuno and hope he can turn things around, even though that was a hugely disappointing defeat to Fulham.
“When he was brought in to replace Graham Potter, they decided he was the man they wanted to lead them for the future, so sacking him now goes against that.
“The board want to save face, so if he can turn things around and prove they made the right decision, they want to give him every opportunity to do that.”
West Ham problems run deeper than the manager’s future
While Nuno has overseen a frustrating run of form since his arrival at the London Stadium, decisions behind the scenes are unlikely to aid his cause.
Brown told Football Insider on 19 December that West Ham have a limited transfer budget and are not prepared to spend big in the January transfer window.
As a result, the former scout warned that the club is going backwards due to the board’s lack of ambition and will feel the effects of that this season.
Nuno wants to strengthen his squad in a number of key positions, but is unlikely to be afforded a large budget to do so by the board.
This comes after Football Insider revealed West Ham have set aside £20million to fund their pursuit of a new striker, but would not go higher than that price.
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