Graham Potter was left in an uncomfortable spot when asked a direct question about his relationship with West Ham chief David Sullivan, and his awkward response does not bode well.
After talking up a positive pre-season, Graham Potter is engulfed by a cloud of negativity just two games into the new campaign.
West Ham fans performed a mass walkout during the embarrassing 5-1 defeat to Chelsea at the London Stadium on Friday night.
It compounded the misery and fears of the opening day 3-0 defeat to newly-promoted Sunderland.
The performances and results have seen the Hammers set an unwelcome new record as the team to have officially made the worst ever start to a Premier League season.
And they have proved a host of pundits, journalists and fans right in predicting West Ham will be relegation candidates.
There is no easy fix for the problems at West Ham.
No easy fix for Potter at West Ham
Because they have been brewing for over two years, spanning the time of David Moyes through to Potter.
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The Scot and the owners failed to future-proof West Ham’s team when they were riding the crest of a wave.
Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui somehow took the Premier League’s second oldest squad and made it THE oldest.
Now there is no money for Potter to spend to try and revitalise a team which lacks all the key ingredients needed to compete at Premier League level, chiefly pace and power, in all areas of the pitch.
Potter is clearly not the root cause of the problem. But it is fast becoming clear he is not necessarily the solution either having failed to get anything like a tune out of West Ham’s squad before and after a full pre-season and some of his own additions.
West Ham head coach Graham Potter looks shellshocked after the thrashing to Chelsea
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
He has bemoaned a lack of leadership after ruthlessly releasing the likes of Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal and Michail Antonio and ditching Tomas Soucek.
Meanwhile meek, softly spoken characters like James Ward-Prowse and Max Kilman are part of his core leadership group headed up by captain Jarrod Bowen.
With just five wins from 21 games so far, Potter has a worse record than Lopetegui and even the hapless Avram Grant – the last manager to take West Ham down.
After a period of relative serenity between fans and the board during Moyes’ tenure, supporters have started turning their attention back to West Ham’s owners.
Chants of ‘sack the board’ rang out around the London Stadium from the few who were left.
When attentions turn to David Sullivan and co, it does not bode well for the manager.
The reality is, no matter how much fans demand the owners sell up, unless there is a willing buyer that simply isn’t going to happen.
And even if there was the prospect of a takeover, it would take months to ratify.
Potter’s awkward response on relations with West Ham chief Sullivan
With £100m plus losses on the horizon in the club’s accounts in December, relegation to the Championship would leave West Ham on the brink of financial disaster.
So Sullivan, Potter – or his replacement – and the players must find a way to make the best of the situation in order to remain in the top flight.
And that means somehow getting the players the team so obviously needs in the door before the summer transfer window slams shut in nine days.
West Ham paid Chelsea £1.2m to reunite Kyle Macaulay with Potter back in January.
The talent identifier was appointed the Hammers’ head of recruitment but has had limited influence so far judging by West Ham’s transfer business.
Sullivan, who has reprised his role as West Ham’s de facto director of football following the sacking of Tim Steidten, is the man in ultimate control of doing deals.
But Karren Brady said it is ‘sad’ the West Ham board ‘can’t just go out and sign players the manager and Kyle don’t want’ when pressed on a lack of transfers last week.
West Ham head coach Graham Potter looks dejected during a press conference after defeat to Chelsea
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
That very revealing comment suggested all may not be well in West Ham’s new recruitment setup.
Potter, Macaulay and Sullivan must now somehow work together in what remains of the window to save West Ham’s season and Premier League status.
But Potter’s awkward response on relations with West Ham chief Sullivan doesn’t bode well.
Towards the end of a spiky post-match press conference after the Chelsea thrashing, Potter was asked the following question:
“You have been working closely with David Sullivan this summer on recruitment, what is that relationship like and do you think works for building an effective Premier League squad?”
Potter’s unconvincing Sullivan response doesn’t bode well
The question had Potter squirming and searching for the right words.
The West Ham boss, as you can see in the full video from the press conference below, was clearly uncomfortable.
And his unconvincing answer suggests fans should not hold out too much hope of a fairytale ending to this nightmare.
Shaking his head and looking down, Potter held a long pause when trying to find the right word to describe how things have worked between him and Sullivan – settling on a seriously unemphatic ‘well’.
There was also a lack of conviction about Potter’s comments on whether they could work together to make the signings needed.
“I’ve been working (long pause) well with the chairman and the board,” Potter said while stuttering over his response.
“They’ve been really supportive (long intake of breath).
“We need to try to find some solutions together, which I’m sure we will.”
It will not be lost on Hammers fans that Potter promised them an “exciting and interesting” summer window at the end of last season.
Now he looks and sounds like a man who has seen the goalposts moved.
And if things aren’t clicking between Potter and Sullivan now, it is highly unlikely they ever will.
Yet the trio must now work together to somehow persuade players that the London Stadium is a good place to be this season after being embarrassed live on TV in front of the watching millions.