The West Ham board have reportedly issued Graham Potter with a stark ultimatum to save his job, with grave concerns mounting over performances and results after a nightmare start to the season.
Chants of ‘sack the board’ rang out around the London Stadium as Chelsea ensured West Ham made the worst start to a Premier League season of any team in the competition’s 33-year history.
A 3-0 defeat at newly-promoted Sunderland followed by that 5-1 London derby thrashing has come against the backdrop of a hugely underwhelming summer transfer window for the Hammers.
As a result, West Ham look all ends up candidates for relegation – as many leading pundits, journalists and fans predicted before the season began.
Potter and West Ham owners face fan fury
Former West Ham managerial target Brendan Rodgers summed things up perfectly this week.
“It’s normally the manager that goes when that starts to be sung,” Rodgers said about Celtic fans chanting ‘sack the board’.
Graham Potter admits he is all too aware of the situation he is in.
Six months out of top level football is a long time for any manager nowadays, let alone the near two-year spell Potter had away from the game following his Chelsea sacking before taking the West Ham job in January.
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It has shown too.
West Ham head coach Graham Potter looks dejected during a press conference after defeat to Chelsea
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Just five wins from 21 games is the worst ratio of any West Ham manager in history.
Potter’s record in his first 10 home games as Hammers boss is even worse than that of the hapless Avram Grant, the last manager to take the club down.
While Potter may not be the man to turn West Ham’s sinking ship around, many supporters feel he is not the root of the problem. Far from it in fact.
The head coach is accused of being a ‘yes man’ for owners David Sullivan and Daniel Kretinsky and vice-chair Karren Brady.
But he appeared at the end of his tether already following defeat to Chelsea as Potter made a very public transfer demand of Sullivan with eight days left until the window closes.
Now the Hammers’ hierarchy have countered Potter’s attempts to leave the owners nowhere to hide.
Because the West Ham board have issued Potter an ultimatum to save his job amid serious concerns.
West Ham board issue Potter ultimatum to save his job
After the defeat at Sunderland, vice-chair Brady was asked about the manager and his future.
Simon Jordan claims Brady left the door open for West Ham to sack Potter.
That was before the hellish performance against Chelsea which has piled the pressure on the manager and the owners.
With players turning West Ham down left, right and centre and no sign of Potter getting any much-needed help through new additions, it is fair to say the Hammers are on the verge of a full-blown crisis.
One the club has been sleepwalking into for 19 months, where the club have won just 15 of their 59 Premier League matches.
Furious West Ham fans are considering a mass protest to force the owners out.
As Rodgers pointed out this week, that never usually ends well for the manager.
West Ham majority owner David Sullivan spotted watching the women's team in the FA Cup semi-final in 2019.
Photo by James Chance/Getty Images
Daily Mail journalist Dominic King claims Potter is now under ‘enormous pressure’ to keep his job at West Ham.
There are doubts he will make it to a year in the job in January.
And King claims Sullivan and co have told Potter he must oversee an ‘immediate upturn in form to continue into the autumn’.
Potter is reportedly on such a knife-edge that he has essentially been given two games to prove he should keep his job.
King says ‘it is understood Potter will be in charge for Wolves in the League Cup and Forest in the league this week’.
But there are no guarantees beyond that.
And with the September international break handing the Hammers two weeks to make a change, it looks ominous for Potter.
Many would argue it has been an impossible job for Potter, who has not been backed with enough signings to truly make what was already an underperforming and dysfunctional squad his own.
On the flip side, other managers at lesser clubs with inferior squads are getting more out of their sides, including a clear identity and style of play.
Potter has also not helped himself.
The 50-year-old does not handle pressure well with the media.
Potter has also bemoaned a lack of leadership despite releasing a host of senior stars including Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal and Michail Antonio while also getting rid of long-serving and much-loved goalkeeper coach Xavi Valero – who was immediately snapped up by Liverpool.
His insistence on playing the woefully inept James Ward-Prowse is also contributing to West Ham’s demise and word is he has made the softly-spoken Championship quality midfielder the club’s vice-captain.