Graham Potter has been sacked as West Ham United head coach after just eight months in charge, with the Hammers languishing in 19th place in the Premier League table following a catastrophic start to the season.
The club confirmed Potter’s dismissal this morning in a brief statement, ending one of the shortest and least successful managerial reigns in the East London club’s history. The decision comes just 48 hours before West Ham face David Moyes’ Everton at Goodison Park on Monday night.
“West Ham United can confirm that Head Coach Graham Potter has left the Club,” the statement read. Results and performances over the course of the second half of last season and the start of the 2025/26 season have not matched expectations, and the Board of Directors believe that a change is necessary in order to help improve the team’s position in the Premier League as soon as possible.
Potter’s entire backroom staff have also departed, including Assistant Coach Bruno Saltor, First Team Coaches Billy Reid and Narcis Pelach, Lead Goalkeeper Coach Casper Ankergren, and Goalkeeper Coach Linus Kandolin.
The 50-year-old former Brighton and Chelsea manager leaves West Ham with the worst points-per-game record in the club’s Premier League history, averaging just 1.04 points from his 25 matches in charge. He won only six games during his tenure, a 24% win rate that ranks him among the worst managers in the Hammers’ history.
Potter’s final match proved to be Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace, a result that left West Ham with just three points from their opening five league matches. Jean-Philippe Mateta opened the scoring for the Eagles in the 37th minute before Jarrod Bowen briefly gave the home side hope with an equaliser.
However, Tyrick Mitchell’s second-half strike sealed Potter’s fate as West Ham fans turned on their manager with chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” and “You’re getting sacked in the morning” echoing around the London Stadium.
The defeat left West Ham second from bottom in the Premier League, with only winless Wolverhampton Wanderers below them. The Hammers have conceded 13 goals in their first five matches, the worst defensive record in the division, whilst scoring just five times.
Former Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo has emerged as the clear favourite to replace Potter, with bookmakers installing the Portuguese coach as odds-on to take charge. Nuno was surprisingly sacked by Forest earlier this month after just three matches of the new season, with his final game ironically being a 3-0 defeat to West Ham.
The appointment could be complicated by legal issues surrounding Nuno’s Forest departure, which may delay any official announcement. Sources suggest the 51-year-old met with West Ham hierarchy following Saturday’s defeat to discuss terms, though negotiations have hit a stumbling block.
Other candidates reportedly under consideration include former West Ham manager Slaven Bilic, who remains popular with supporters from his 2015-2017 tenure, Gary O’Neil, Sean Dyche, Scott Parker and Frank Lampard. Bilic has been out of work since leaving Saudi Pro League side Al-Fateh last year and would represent a nostalgic appointment for many fans.
Potter was appointed in January 2025 to replace Julen Lopetegui, who himself had lasted just seven months at the London Stadium. The board believed Potter’s progressive style and track record at Brighton, where he had impressed before his ill-fated Chelsea spell, would revitalise the team.
However, the former Swansea manager struggled from the outset, winning just one of his first six games in charge. West Ham went eight games without a victory during his tenure and only a late-season rally saw them finish 14th in the 2024/25 campaign.
The new season brought no improvement, with West Ham beginning with a 3-0 thrashing at Sunderland followed by a humiliating 5-1 home defeat to Chelsea. A 3-2 defeat at Wolves in the EFL Cup saw them eliminated at the first hurdle, whilst a 3-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur included Tomás Souček’s red card.
Potter’s reign was marked by confusion over team selection and tactics. He controversially released experienced players including Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal and Michail Antonio, whilst loaning out Edson Alvarez and dropping captain Souček, then complained about a lack of leadership in the squad.
The former Brighton boss had once been considered one of British football’s brightest managerial prospects, with some tipping him as a future England manager. His innovative work at Swedish club Östersund and impressive spell at Brighton had earned him the Chelsea job in September 2022.
However, his stock has plummeted following failures at both Stamford Bridge, where he was sacked after just seven months, and now at the London Stadium. The Chelsea experience saw him win just 12 of 31 matches despite the club spending over £600 million on new players during his tenure.
West Ham supporters had turned against Potter well before his dismissal. His record as the first Hammers manager in Premier League history to fail to reach 10 points from his first 10 home games, collecting only nine, symbolised his struggles to connect with the fanbase.
Saturday’s defeat saw protests outside the stadium with fans initially chanting “sack the board” before turning their ire on Potter. Many supporters left the ground early, with the stadium significantly emptied by the final whistle.
The board had publicly backed Potter as recently as August, with vice-chair Karren Brady offering what appeared to be a vote of confidence. However, the catastrophic start to the campaign, which saw them ship eight goals in their first two matches, made his position increasingly untenable.
West Ham’s hierarchy will hope a new manager can spark an immediate improvement, with the club desperate to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle. The fixture list offers little respite, with games against Everton and Arsenal in the coming weeks.
The timing of Potter’s dismissal, coming during an international break, theoretically gives his successor more time to prepare for the Everton match. However, with legal complications potentially delaying Nuno’s appointment, West Ham may need to put interim arrangements in place.
Potter becomes the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season, though few would bet against him being joined by others given the pressure building at several clubs. For West Ham, the priority is finding someone who can quickly arrest their slide towards the Championship.
The club concluded their statement by thanking Potter and his staff “for their hard work during their time with the Hammers” whilst wishing them “every success for the future”, though Potter’s immediate future appears uncertain after two high-profile failures in succession.
For a manager once spoken of as the future of English coaching, Potter’s reputation lies in tatters. Whether he can rebuild his career after successive disasters at Chelsea and West Ham remains to be seen, but his time at the London Stadium will be remembered as an unmitigated failure.
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Image Credit:
Graham Potter — photo by jamesboyes, cropped from original, licensed under CC BY 2.0
