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Graham Potter finds himself in a position familiar to many of his predecessors. This is not the first time David Sullivan’s lack of vision has led to West Ham dragging out a managerial departure. It is dressed up as loyalty but in reality it is dysfunction. It is the same old story. It happened to Gianfranco Zola in 2010, Avram Grant in 2011, Sam Allardyce in 2015, Slaven Bilic in 2017, Manuel Pellegrini in 2019, David Moyes on numerous occasions and, as recently as January, to Julen Lopetegui before he was replaced by Potter.
This is how it is under Sullivan. It is an inefficient way to do business, exposing the short-termism that has led to mass protests against West Ham’s board, but Potter cannot say he was not warned. Working for Sullivan was never going to be easy. This is standard practice for the 76-year-old, which is why there was no point in feigning outrage after it emerged that West Ham had warmed up for last weekend’s defeat by Crystal Palace by holding talks with Nuno Espírito Santo about taking over from Potter.
Nothing has happened yet. There are suggestions that Nuno, who is on the market after parting company with Nottingham Forest this month, may be too expensive. The likeliest alternative is a reunion with Bilic until the end of the season. The Croatian was fired by West Ham in November 2017 but can point to leading them to seventh 18 months earlier. Bilic, who has been out of work since leaving the Saudi Pro League side Al-Fateh in August 2024, is waiting. He is thinking about his backroom staff and is being backed by people close to Sullivan.
Maybe Bilic’s charisma can give West Ham a shot in the arm. They are listless at the moment. Potter is determined to salvage the situation but he has a long way to go if he is to reassert his authority. The discussions with other managers show where this is heading. Some on the board believe West Ham should already have sacked Potter after losing four of their first five league games and being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Wolves.
But it is Sullivan who will make the call. The theory is that Potter is clinging on partly because there is a reluctance to appoint a manager before two tricky away games: Monday’s trip to Everton and next Saturday’s visit to Arsenal. The international break offers a chance for a reset. Yet talk of hiring an interim manager with 33 games to go is absurd. There is no strategy at West Ham. Supporters are right to call on Sullivan and the vice-chair, Karren Brady, to quit.
The dissent will grow if there is more disappointment at Everton. There is irony in a team managed by Moyes potentially ushering another West Ham manager towards the exit. The attempt to move on from Moyes at the end of the 2023-24 season has been a total botch job. Lopetegui lasted half a season and Potter has six wins from 25 games.
Potter is keen to stress that pinning the blame entirely on the manager does not tell the full story. “You have to face that and take that responsibility,” he said before facing Everton. “You also have to look at context and where the club was, where the club has been, where the club’s at, and realistically what is needed to improve. Whenever you do something meaningful and important it takes some time.”
The managers are symptoms. Potter and his recruitment chief, Kyle Macaulay, are not responsible for years of poor signings. West Ham did not have a big budget last summer and said they had to sell to buy because of concerns over meeting the league’s profitability and sustainability rules. That said, it did not go unnoticed that the finances seemed to improve after West Ham were thrashed in their opening two games. Surely, as one source said, the midfield would have functioned better if West Ham had paid Southampton’s asking price for Mateus Fernandes before the start of the season.
Where Potter and Macaulay fall down, though, is in underestimating the size of their task. It is almost as if Potter thought the job was to make the team more progressive after the Moyes era. Wrong. There is no time at West Ham. They have lost their identity so do not know what they want to be. When it comes to Sullivanism the key for a manager is working out how to survive from day to day.
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Moyes got that. He is the outlier; the one manager who really worked Sullivan out. He developed a solid core and made West Ham resilient. At Everton, he has brought in proven Premier League talent. Potter and Macaulay may reflect that they also should have looked to build a solid base before adding young players from relegated teams and lesser foreign leagues.
Moyes was tough. “You don’t run, you don’t play,” he said. Unlike Potter, Moyes would have called out West Ham’s execrable defending this season.
Potter is calmer. He has left fans cold with his attempts to introduce a possession-heavy style. West Ham do not attack particularly well, they press badly and teams are playing through them.
Then there are the set pieces. The defensive setup has been baffling. It has become a psychological issue. West Ham have shipped six goals from corners in the league this season and it was not a good look when Potter was forced to drop his new £15m goalkeeper, Mads Hermansen, against Palace.
Now, though, is the time for Potter to come out fighting. West Ham won their last away game, thrashing Forest 3-0. Will playing away from the soulless London Stadium liberate them? For Potter, this is a crucial moment. He is no longer at smart, well-run Brighton. The 50-year-old was scarred by his time at Chelsea. He took a long time to recover, waiting for the right job. There is something tragic about him choosing one run by Sullivan when he finally returned. The one positive, though, may be that Sullivan’s indecision gives Potter one last chance to save his job.
