West Ham Appoint Scott Parker as Head Coach

West Ham United have appointed former midfielder Scott Parker as head coach on a two-and-a-half-year contract, BBC Sport reported on Wednesday, November 4. The 46-year-old replaces Nuno Espirito Santo, who was sacked on Tuesday, and takes charge for the first time at Cardiff City in the Championship on Wednesday night (UK time).

Why Nuno went

West Ham were relegated from the Premier League last season and began the Championship as promotion favourites. Instead they have won only two of their last six games. Back-to-back home defeats, 3-2 to Southampton and 3-1 to West Brom, dropped them from second to eighth, six points behind leaders Middlesbrough.

Parker becomes the club's fourth permanent manager since David Moyes left in May 2024.

A promotion specialist

Parker was the front-runner as soon as Nuno left, largely because of his record in the second tier:

• Fulham: promoted through the 2020 play-off final against Brentford.
• Bournemouth: promoted as runners-up, behind Fulham.
• Burnley: promoted at the first attempt with one of the best defensive records in English football history and a 31-match unbeaten run.

The Premier League has been harder. Fulham went down the season after promotion, he left Bournemouth days after a 9-0 defeat at Liverpool, and Burnley were relegated last season before he left in April. He also had a short spell at Club Brugge in 2022-23.

"I've got out of this division three times"

Parker played 129 games for West Ham between 2007 and 2011, scoring 12 goals and winning the club's player of the year award three seasons in a row. He told the club website it was "a very proud moment" to return, and spoke of the bond he built with the fans.

"I've been in this division three times and I've got out of this division three times," he said, while warning that the Championship is tough.

Interim chief executive Karim Virani said Parker was the board's "unanimous choice". First-team coaches Steve Potts, Gerard Prenderville and Billy Lepine will assist him, and former team-mate Mark Noble will work closely with him as sporting director.

The squad he inherits

West Ham raised about £150m in summer sales, including Mateus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville and James Ward-Prowse. They paid Celtic a Championship record £22m for Arne Engels and kept Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavropanos. Parker's job is to turn that squad into a side that can go straight back up.

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Photo: the London Stadium, home of West Ham United, by Timmy96 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0. File photo.