Although Nuno Espirito Santo may still lead the Premier League strugglers to parity, West Ham United had the good sense to include a relegation clause in the Iberian’s contract when appointing him as Graham Potter’s replacement.
The Hammers were burned by Avram Grant and his sizeable compensation package in 2011.
With a first relegation since the dreaded Grant era a very real possibility, West Ham United were sure to avoid making the same mistake 15 years later.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers' Jose Sa punches clear under pressure from West Ham United's Max Kilman during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United at Molineux on January 3, 2026 in Wolverhampton, England.
According to The Athletic, West Ham can fire Nuno without a pay-off should the former Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Porto, Valencia and Wolves coach join Grant and Glenn Roeder as the only managers to suffer relegation with the London giants this side of the Millennium.
Should that worst-case scenario come to pass, one suspects the familiar name of Frank Lampard will do the rounds again. A less familiar but no less impressive candidate, meanwhile, could be Sergej Jakirovic of Hull City.
West Ham United were linked with Hull City coach Sergej Jakirovic recently
It was confirmed this week that Lampard and Jakirovic have both been nominated for the Championship’s 2025/26 Manager of the Year award. The odds are extremely short on Lampard securing a league title / Manager of the Year double act; his sky-high, sky-blue Coventry City side are 12 points clear with five games remaining.
But Jakirovic is more than deserving of a place alongside Alex Neil [Millwall] and Kim Hellberg [Middlesbrough] on a four-strong shortlist.
Sergej Jakirovic during Hull City v Stoke City - Sky Bet Championship
Photo by Tony King/Getty Images
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Croatian publication Sportske Novosti reported a few months ago – following successive defeats by Wolves and Nottingham Forest which sparked serious debate over Nuno’s future – that the Hull head coach was under consideration.
Jakirovic even called West Ham’s alleged interest ‘flattering’.
Now, Hammers News can confirm that sporting director Mark Noble is a big admirer of Lampard and the sterling job he has done at Premier League-bound Coventry. Noble is a huge fan, even if some West Ham fans have not forgiven the academy graduate for his 2001 move to Chelsea.
It is not certain how true those Jakirovic reports were, in contrast. But the facts are that he took over a team who finished one place above the relegation zone last year and now has them on the verge of a play-off spot.
Jakirovic has a personality which would appeal to Hammers fans
Jakirovic, who won the Bosnian and Croatian leagues with Zrinjski Mostar and Dinamo Zagreb respectively, has turned Hull into one of the most exciting, free-flowing if flawed teams in the league.
The Tigers are in fifth, four points clear of seventh-place Wrexham on the other side of the dotted line.
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Nuno Espirito Santo, manager of West Ham United, looks on during the Premier League match between Aston Villa and West Ham United at Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom, on March 22, 2026. Sweden's coach Graham Potter arrives on the pitch prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026 European qualification Group B football match between Sweden and Slovenia, in Solna on November 18, 2025.
“Ryan Giles at the moment he’s out and we’ve had to find a way to make it work and working under Sergej, he’s brilliant to work with because he just finds a way with the players that are available, no excuses.
“We’ve suffered all season through a lot of injuries. I know clubs go through that, but we’ve really had big injuries to key players,” assistant coach Dean Holden told talkSPORT last month, praising Jakirovic’s adaptability and his penchant for rolling with the proverbial punches.
“We’ve had to find a way to make it work. Sergej, he’s brilliant to work with because he just finds a way with the players that are available. No excuses.
“It’s black and white, a little bit old school like it used to be, and there’s nothing wrong with that. He finds a way to win games. It’s not a set system or set style of play for one game, it’s a bit horses for courses.”
Straight-talking, defiant, ‘no excuses’. One suspects the West Ham fans would like Sergej Jakirovic.
If Nuno’s Hammers career ends after less than a full season in charge – be it via relegation or both parties deciding to pursue a fresh start – Jakirovic and Lampard might both be the subject of interest.
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