Scott Parker: West Ham United confirm ex-midfielder as head coach

West Ham United have confirmed the appointment of former midfielder Scott Parker as their new head coach on a two-and-a-half-year contract.

The 46-year-old replaces Nuno Espirito Santo, who was sacked on Tuesday after the club's disappointing start to the Championship season.

Parker previously led Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley to promotion from the Championship, but has been out of work since leaving the Clarets in April after their relegation from the Premier League.

He will take charge of the team for the first time on Wednesday when West Ham travel to Cardiff City in the Championship.

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First-team coaches Steve Potts, Gerard Prenderville and Billy Lepine will assist Parker while his former team-mate Mark Noble will also work closely with him in his role as sporting director.

The club will also make further announcements on the backroom team in the coming days and weeks.

"It is a very proud moment for me to step into this role and return to a club that means so much to me and my family," Parker told the club website. , external

"There was a warmth, a love, a feeling that I probably didn't have anywhere else. There was something which stood out constantly and that was the relationship that I built up with the fanbase here. That rapport and respect, that I felt instantly.

"More than anything, this is an opportunity that I am very excited about. I feel privileged and honoured to be the guy that wants to lead us back to the Premier League and be the head coach of this football club at this moment in time.

"My energy levels, my enthusiasm, my desire, my passion - it's absolutely running through and that's the feeling I had as soon as there was a conversation that this was possible. That's exactly why I'm here and why I want to be here."

'I've got out of this division three times'

Parker quickly became the front-runner for the job after the sacking of Nuno, which followed back-to-back home defeats by Southampton and West Bromwich Albion.

He becomes West Ham's fourth permanent manager since David Moyes left London Stadium in May 2024, and joins with the pre-season promotion favourites sitting eighth in the Championship table, six points behind leaders Middlesbrough.

"From my first calls with Karim [Virani, interim chief executive] and Daniel [Kretinsky, largest shareholder], it was clear they have a shared vision and desire to return the club to the Premier League as quickly as possible. I share that ambition and I'm very confident we can achieve it," he added.

"I've been in this division three times and I've got out of this division three times. This is a tough division, there is absolutely no denying it.

"I will use every ounce of my experience, every ounce of my knowledge, to have an understanding of what we're going to need to bring consistency."

He joins a club that has had a stuttering start to life in the Championship after relegation last season.

They have won two of their past six games and have lost back-to-back home matches - going down 3-2 to Southampton and then 3-1 to West Brom on Saturday - losses that have seen them drop down from second place.

The departures of players including Mateus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville, El Hadji Malick Diouf, James Ward-Prowse and Freddie Potts secured the club about £150m in transfer revenue over the summer following their relegation.

They used some of that cash to pay Celtic a Championship record £22m for midfielder Arne Engels and spent a reported £12m on Norwegian winger Edvin Austbo.

Experienced campaigners Joel Veltman and Manor Solomon also joined on free transfers from Brighton and Tottenham respectively while they kept key players such as England winger Jarrod Bowen, Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek and Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos.

It is a squad that Parker needs to galvanise if the 2023 Uefa Europa Conference League winners are to return to the top flight at the first time of asking.

"He is someone who is held in high regard at West Ham United and throughout the game, and he was the unanimous choice of the board to become our new head coach," Virani said.

"He has fantastic experience and pedigree across an outstanding playing and coaching career, a clear and proven track record of success as a head coach in the EFL Championship, and a deep understanding of West Ham United, its identity and our loyal and passionate fanbase.

"We believe that all of these factors together make him the right man to lead us forward and help the club to achieve our objectives this season and beyond.

"Scott has the complete support of everyone here and, from the conversations we have had with him already, we believe he will represent West Ham United and our supporters in a way that we can all be extremely proud of."

Can Parker get West Ham back to the Premier League and keep them there?

Parker's managerial career to date has seen three promotions followed by much leaner times in the Premier League.

His first taste of senior management was at Fulham, who he immediately guided back to the Premier League with a play-off final win over Brentford in 2020.

Parker could not keep them up again the following season and left by mutual consent in June 2021. He then became manager of Bournemouth and led them to promotion as runners-up, ironically behind Fulham.

A few weeks into the new Premier League season, the Cherries lost 9-0 at Liverpool and Parker departed three days later.

He briefly managed Belgian side Club Brugge in the 2022-23 season before replacing the Bayern Munich-bound Vincent Kompany as Burnley boss in 2024.

Parker guided the Clarets to the Premier League at the first attempt, with one of the best defensive records in English football history and a 31-match unbeaten streak.

However, he could not keep the team up last season and he departed Turf Moor after their relegation was confirmed.

Parker is highly regarded at West Ham from his four years as a player at the club.

Having emerged at Charlton Athletic, and endured an unsuccessful move to Chelsea in 2004, he joined the Hammers from Newcastle United in June 2007, for a fee of £7m.

Parker went on to make 129 appearances in claret and blue, scoring 12 goals. He also won the club's player of the year award three seasons in a row.

In 2010-11, despite the Hammers' relegation from the Premier League, Parker also won the Football Writers' Association footballer of the year award and was nominated for the Professional Footballers' Association player of the year.

He started the first four Championship matches of West Ham's 2011–12 campaign, but handed in a transfer request after a bid came in from Tottenham Hotspur.

Parker completed a move to Spurs in order to further his England career, and he went on to be part of Roy Hodgson's Euro 2012 squad.

He later played for Fulham, before retiring in June 2017.

Why was this move not made in the summer? - analysis

As soon as the news broke that Nuno Espirito Santo had been relieved of his duties at West Ham it became clear that the club had identified Scott Parker as the coach they believed could lead them back to the Premier league at the first time of asking.

The only nagging question for me was why this move was not made in the summer giving Parker time to build a squad he would want and have pre-season to prepare them.

Parker's pedigree of guiding clubs to promotion from the second tier in his first full year in charge is unquestionable having done it at Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley. These achievements were at clubs where there was an expectation of success so the fact that West Ham have the same aim this season will not faze him.

He follows in the footsteps of the great Billy Bonds, the only other former captain to go on and manage West Ham. Bonds was also charged with gaining promotion, something he achieved.

There is no doubt where the issues have been for West Ham so far this season, starting games slowly, conceding first and on a number of occasions conceding too many.

Parker will bring structure and clarity to the team, providing a stable platform from which the front line can start exploiting their talents. He will want to quickly create an identity and will leave players in no doubt that hard work and commitment lead to positive outcomes.

The question of 'style' had been on the lips of a number of people in regards to Parker and much was made of Burnley's incredible parsimony during their promotion to the Premier League under him, but they were also the third highest scorers and gained 100 points, which is no mean feat.

He has players at his disposal to be effective going forward, and the coaching ability to make a rather leaky side more watertight.

The fans and the club will hope that is the perfect formula.