The Potter Project was a disaster, so what next for Mr Sullivan? Rumours were that Fulham’s Marco Silva was the board’s top choice, but Silva is currently gainfully employed, with a buyout clause of £8 million. We spend tens of millions on players like Danny Ings and James Ward-Prowse, but we don’t spend on managers. Over to the free and available market then.
The obvious choice was Nuno Espírito Santo – plenty of Premier League experience and “free”. Style of football, fit with our current project – doesn’t matter, he’ll do. Nuno was clearly the best available manager, and only available after falling out with the Forest chairman, after doing a very decent job there – taking them to Europe for the first time in 30 years.
After the PE teacher, psychology degree-holding, James-Ward-Prowse-loving Graham Potter, we needed some grit, passion, and non-nonsense management, and in Nuno, we may have found that.
Immediate Impact: Pragmatism Over Psychology
Writing this after the 1-1 draw with Everton there were some very positive signs, despite the new manager only being in place a few days, and without his back-room team. And despite shipping in the standard headed goal from a cross, we looked more organised and comfortable with our shape.
James Ward-Potter, I mean Prowse was banished, Magassa started, and Potts got a decent run out. Potter’s glaring errors immediately rectified, and suddenly the fan base sat up a bit straighter.
What will we see from Nuno’s West Ham, moving forward? He is known for a pragmatic, defensively solid, counter-attacking style of football. His approach is generally cautious, structured, and focused on team organisation over flair. Sound familiar? A return to Moyesball, perhaps?
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The Nuno Difference: Discipline and Drive
Speaking to a few Forest fans, I would say not necessarily Moyesball. Despite being an arch pragmatist, his football can be a good watch. I recall watching a few Forest games on TV last year, and they were strong, fast, with quick transitions. His teams are always disciplined and well drilled, something that we haven’t seen from the team under Potter.
He is able to get the best out of players, and coach them. Let’s see what he gets from Todibo, Paqueta, and his old player – Kilman. Let’s see if he actually integrates the youth players, not just talking about it, then bottling it, like Potter did.
The fact that Nuno has already binned Ward-Prowse has been called harsh by some… Clearly Nuno has other thoughts, and I like the fact that he has set his stall out straight away. I also like his passion and drive – look at the clip doing the rounds of Nuno watching the lead up to the Bowen goal – absolute great viewing.
A Buffer for the Board: Uniting the Fans
In his early press conferences, Santos has spoken about feeling the club’s identity, not just understanding it. He sees the importance of us, the fans: “My worry is about the bond between the team and the fans.”
I also like that he sees that the fans have been watching some dirge for some time, and it is down to the team to get the fans on board again: “Now is not the moment to ask the fans. Now is the moment to deliver to the fans.”
The West Ham manager job is a poisoned chalice; you have to work for Sullivan and Brady, which is virtually impossible. One of the things Moyes did so well in his tenure was managing upwards. Nuno has some history of falling out with owners… I think Nuno will be a good buffer between the fans and the board.
The Long-Term Problem
I can see us pulling away from the bottom of the table and finishing mid-table. It is too early to think what else, the focus is on getting out of trouble.
What the appointment does show is that we have no mid to long term plan nor strategy. Sullivan is reactive, not proactive. The best thing that can happen is Sullivan sells up… At this point, neither seems likely, so while the protests continue, the best we can hope for is somewhat of a resurgence under Nuno, and getting some pride back into our football. I am quietly confident Nuno will do a good job for us, until he falls out with Sullivan and it all goes off again.
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