Leading pundits Paul Merson and Jamie Carragher have sent a stark warning to David Sullivan that he must act or West Ham will be in trouble.
Many West Ham fans didn’t think things could get much worse when David Sullivan finally made the call to fire Julen Lopetegui.
But they were wrong – at least thus far – as Graham Potter struggles to convince at the London Stadium.
Potter has the worst win ratio of any West Ham manager since Avram Grant.
And Hammers fans are all too aware what happened to the club when he was in charge.
Even a win at Ipswich would see Potter end his half a season in charge with a worse record than Lopetegui.
Potter has it all to prove at West Ham
The Spaniard was labelled ‘hapless and clueless’ as he became the shortest-serving permanent manager in West Ham’s 130-year history when he was sacked in January.
Cynics have been asking what that makes Potter as the 50-year-old has managed only four victories in his 18 games at the Hammers helm.
MORE WEST HAM STORIES
West Ham have avoided complete disaster this season by virtue of the fact the relegated sides were so bad.
For the second Premier League season in a row, the three promoted teams have gone straight back down.
Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
But ambitious Leeds, defensively brilliant Burnley and a young, vibrant Sunderland team will make the top flight the most fiercely competitive it has been for years.
Given there are few – if any – worse teams outside the relegation zone than West Ham over the last 18 months, that gives the east Londoners serious cause for concern about next season.
So much rests on one of the most important summer transfer windows in West Ham history.
Sullivan is back in charge of transfer dealings having sacked Tim Steidten as well as Lopetegui.
West Ham have been telling anyone who will listen that the club is at its limit in terms of PSR.
That means Potter must sell to buy this summer.
Merson and Carragher say Sullivan must act at West Ham
But as last summer proved once again, it is how you spend and not how much which dictates success.
The jury is still massively out on Potter. Some Hammers fans have even called for another change of manager in the summer.
Potter’s only transfer so far has been the disastrous loan signing of Brighton forward Evan Ferguson.
The 20-year-old Irishman has not had a shot on target let alone scored a goal in four months with the Hammers.
That does not bode well for West Ham’s summer window given how important the club’s dealings will be to their very survival next season, let alone getting back to competing for Europe.
Now Paul Merson and Jamie Carragher say Sullivan must act or West Ham are in trouble.
Photo by James Chance/Getty Images
Photo by James Chance/Getty Images
‘Sullivan must back Potter in window’ say Merson
Merson believes Potter is struggling and finding the West Ham job ‘tough’. He has once again questioned the decision to let David Moyes go.
The pundit says he doesn’t think West Ham have a great team.
And Merson believes Sullivan simply must back Potter in the transfer window if he is to have any chance of turning the Hammers around.
“It is proving to be a really tough job for Graham Potter at West Ham,” Merson told Sportskeeda.
“They have to do something in the summer transfer window to help him. But I don’t really understand West Ham.
“They had David Moyes in charge, he won a trophy and they got rid of him because his team did not play the West Ham way! Honestly, what is the West Ham way of playing? I don’t even know.”
‘Signings a necessity for West Ham’ says Carragher
Carragher says there has been no upturn under Potter.
And the Sky Sports pundit says the manager should not even have to demand that Sullivan backs him in the transfer market – because it is an absolute ‘necessity’ if West Ham are to be competitive again.
“The reason they (managers) come in (mid-season) is because the results haven’t been good enough for the previous manager,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.
“And normally supporters expect an upturn and that hasn’t really been the case at West Ham.
“But you’re not going to change a manager again.
“But I think with the change of personnel in the summer, it does give him a big opportunity to almost not so much demand from the powers above him, but it’s a necessity, that they have to have players.
“Because they’re losing sort of seven or eight players over the summer so they have to replenish that.
“He’ll (Potter) want his players in obviously, who are a little bit more suited to his style of play.”
It seems the Hammers boss has taken Carragher’s advice already.
Because Potter has fired his first warning to Sullivan over West Ham’s summer transfers ahead of the most crucial window in recent memory.