Forum | General Discussion
Super Slav’s Band Back Together?
West Ham have had backstreet Moyes, now it’s time to witness Super Slav’s ‘Rawbau’ with the starting squad, with the Hammers eyeing up the Croatian and the clubs current stance placing him as second favourite for the gig.
Upon the prospect of potentially returning to West Ham, Bilić himself has spoken to sources and suggested that his first plan of action will be to bring in Mark Noble as his assistant manager, James Collins as a defensive coach as well as Julien Dicks.
Slaven has written his own lyrics for years upon end, even whilst a player for his family band, but now he’ll have to pull a rabbit out the hat if he’s going to get the squad singing together as well as the fans.
There’s further talk of other players but at the moment these are unknown. Whilst the Croatian might not be the best fit for the managerial role fans suggest, he believes one of his biggest assets could be bringing the fanbase back together and reigniting a club spirit with what he’s given, something of which is much needed in hard times, but at the end of the day, the results are what can reunite a fanbase best.
However, despite Bilić eagerness to join as well as his willingness to accept a short-term contract with the potential to extend, Nuno still remains as a majority favourite and as previously mentioned, he’s in pole position for the seat.
Nuno’s pole position lead is only marginal seeing as the club, primarily Sullivan, consider him as ‘expensive’ so it’s a straight shootout now for a long-term or interim manager.
Sullivan Stalls As Two Fixtures Remain
After West Ham United’s defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday it seems as that was the final nail in the coffin for Graham Potter and the club are anticipating sacking the Englishman, but not until a replacement is set in stone.
The Hammers have seemingly given Potter the fixtures against Everton and Arsenal seeing as ‘they don’t believe they are good fixtures for a new manager’ which is rather convenient considering that’s the build-up to the international break, and the return fixture is the game against Brentford, which has planned to be a boycott through fans.
However, overlooking the boards anticipated thought process, the question of which manager and what type of deal to offer is now the question looming in the clubs head.
The contenders for the job, which has been said by numerous sources close to David Sullivan, are currently Slaven Bilić, Nuno Espirito Santo and Gary O’Neil.
Of all the names, David Sullivan is currently favouriting Bilić or O’Neil seeing as they’d be open to a short-term deal, whilst other members of the board are aiming for a manager who’s given a longer contract, with their preferred target being Nuno.
Nuno is said to be open to taking the West Ham job as he’s keen to return to management after his sacking at Nottingham Forest due to tension with the ownership.
But, Bilić and O’Neil are also open to taking the job on short-term contracts with an incentive, the most likely option being an automatic extension if a certain position was achieved.
Usually most would say time is ticking so a decision needs to be made soon, but the board have over a month to decide the next manager to take the cold seat due to the ‘write off’ fixtures as well as the international break.
Rafa Benitez been offered the job
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your thoughts?
Graham’s tensions grow further after lethargic performance
As the stormy clouds closed in and the protests begun, the London derby against Crystal Palace kicked off which would ultimately see Hammers fans having to endure 90 minutes of an unenthusiastic, lethargic performance with the players coasting around the pitch.
Crystal Palace would take the lead through Mateta from a corner despite Areola taking the starting spot, and Mavros defensive efforts of an acrobatic clearance weren’t able to keep the scoreline level.
All wouldn’t be bad as Jarrod Bowen would convert a header from the corner of Malick Diouf, in which the Hammers saw a surge of attacks but all would amount to nothing. The expected flurry of attacks each game lasted for about 10 minutes, but the lack of urgency to have shots were Potters’ Achilles heel.
Crystal Palace swiftly resumed as always and turned the scoreline around to resume their winning stance. For the remaining 22 minutes, the tactics had no urgency to see us back in the game and considering the style of football West Ham were playing, you’d have thought they were winning 2-1!
In order to bolster the hopes of scoring, Graham Potter made the decision to substitute Summerville for Guilherme as well as Fernandes for Magassa, whom many believe had been our best player on the pitch, instead of Ward-Prowse who had received a negative reception once again.
The weather progressively got worse as the fixture went on, and once making your way out the stadium, the shower of rain became heavier which completed a rather fitting comparison to how Graham Potter’s time at West Ham has gone.
The numb atmosphere before taking a seat to the boos ringing around the stadium at the final whistle, the Matchday environment is becoming more and more against Potter.
This is further shown through the Hammers fans joining in with Crystal Palace signing “sacked in the morning” and “you don’t know what you’re doing”, which proved to be the most unity we’ve had in an atmosphere within the last year.
Time is running around and combining the meetings that took place with Nuno and a defeat today, it feels difficult to imagine a world where there isn’t a change soon.
West Ham vs Crystal Palace Line-ups
West Ham: Areola, Walker-Peters, Diouf, Mavropanos, Kilman, Ward-Prowse, Fernandes, Paqueta, Summerville, Bowen (C), Wilson
Subs: Hermansen, Igor, Fullkrug, Guilherme, Rodriguez, Todibo, Magassa, Scarles, Irving
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Mateta, Kamada, Pino, Mitchell, Hughes, Wharton, Munoz, Guehi (C), Lacroix, Richards
Subs: Matthews, Canvot, Clyne, Cardines, Sosa, Lerma, Devenny, Uche, Nketiah
Manager Conversations Occur As Ex-Hammer Appears
Manager conversations have been looming around with Graham Potter potentially departing in the near future.
A couple of days ago, the first mention of Kieran McKenna had been brought up after he had been spotted at the Tottenham match. As well as this, the other two names that had been considered were Nuno Espírito Santo and Sean Dyche.
The Portuguese manager has been searching for another job and is ready to challenge in the Premier League again, despite being sacked just over a week ago, with him seen as the frontrunner and most popular contender for the job in the event of Graham Potter being sacked.
However, it has been revealed today that Slaven Bilic is being considered for the job if the Englishman were to be sacked, the Croatian could potentially take over as he's seen as one of the three 'serious' candidates that would be considered.
Many haven't been afraid to make their comments known about the Bilic link, with some suggesting that he would be the right man to help secure this fan base come back together, and could potentially use this squad better than Potter is currently using it, whilst others suggest that it would be ludicrous to go for him when Nuno is available on the market and could potentially be open to joining the Hammers.
The manager situation keeps developing by the day, but it seems that Graham Potter will eventually be replaced; it's just a question of who will be the one to take the hot seat...?
Happy Birthday Billy Boy!
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Happy Birthday Bonzo as we know I share the great mans birthday. Personally for me 62 not out, large glass of red later, Faustino 1 probably...
Sullivan Deviates His Eyes From Potter
West Ham suffered a brutal defeat against Tottenham a few days ago, and since the 3-0 result, many have taken to social media to discuss once again the same looming question about Graham Potter that seems to be coming up more frequently than ever at the moment.
Should Graham Potter be sacked?
The Hammers have now suffered yet another home loss, meaning that the club still only have two home victories since the beginning of 2025, those two being against Fulham and Leicester City.
If the board were to decide to sack Graham Potter, there are numerous names on the market. The Portuguese duo of Nuno Espírito Santo and Jose Mourinho are the two most popular names to be brought up; however, it's been revealed that Kieran McKenna paid a visit to the West Ham boardroom after the Spurs game.
The current Ipswich boss was invited to the London Stadium and has been a name that's been placed on the everlasting, dreaded shortlist.
Kieran McKenna is known to have Tottenham links, being an ex-player and coach for the North London side, but it has been confirmed that he was there because of West Ham and not to watch his old club.
Whilst his name might be placed on the shortlist, Hammers fans will know very well that Sully doesn't pay for managers, and the appeal for a free manager would always take priority, especially seeing as he'd already have to take another pay-out to sack a manager and the backroom staff if he were to get rid of Potter, who's contract currently runs out in 2027.
It appears more and more that the club are starting to eye up options elsewhere, and targets are being looked at. If Graham Potter hadn't managed a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, we could've been in a very different scenario and one that most likely could've seen him on the chopping block, as in that instance, we would've been bottom of the Premier League.
The big question the club faces now is 'how much longer do you give Graham Potter before you make the finalised decision?' Is it a simple decision? Or will the Hammers once again find themselves in a similar scenario as with Lopetegui, who managed to do the bare minimum to keep his job as long as possible, but at the end of the day... the storm will always follow the clouds
Potters gone by the Everton game
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Its not If any more its when don't know what Potter says to our players at Half time but he certainly doesn't fire them up. We have only played 4 Prem games and a pattern is emerging against Sunderland and spurs we went in at half time and it wasnt 2 bad didnt rip up any trees but thought we certainly had a chance of winning the game 2nd half comes no changes from us or the opposition and we just fall to pieces and our heads go down when we played Spurs we let in a goal that Frank had sussed out we are shit at defending corners and all they have to do is just sit on our goalkeeper they score, Soucek gets sent off and already Potter is running for cover with damage limitation tactics this is happening time and time again, same with a couple of the other games Wolves and Chelsea and its gonna keep happening till potter finds a way of defending corners and protecting Hamadsen we have played 5 games and the spurs and Chelsea games Embarrassing with the Olez ringing out and our supporters leaving the ground early. I did not know much about Hamadsen but I think Potter has got this wrong The goalie does not command his box and weve been found out already you know what's going to Happen Sullivan will be blaming the manager to take the pressure off B&S but it aint going to work this time because this club ii rotten from the top to bottom all the prem clubs have invested and we have fallen to far behind to stay in this league we will be very lucky after these 5 performances not to go down at the end of the season dont think potter will get another 5 We won the conference, 2years later we are being told we have PSR problems and to get ready for a 100 million loss- how does that happen ???? we got paid 105 mill for Rice WOT THE Hell is happening to our club?????
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