Speculation and criticism around Nuno Espirito Santo’s future in control of West Ham United has increased as a result of recent poor results, prompting the Hammers to begin looking for potential alternatives.

West Ham entered the 2026/27 Championship season as overwhelming title favourites after suffering an extraordinary relegation from the Premier League, bringing their 14-year run of unbroken top-flight membership to an abrupt end.

Retaining Nuno, whose only previous full season at this level was a memorable title-winning campaign with Wolves in 2017/18, as well as keeping stars like Jarrod Bowen, Taty Castellanos, and Konstantinos Mavropanos at the London Stadium, only added to those ambitions.

Recent form, however, suggests that the East Londoners may spend more than one season in the second division unless the team’s record improves, with Nuno’s side suffering consecutive home defeats to Southampton and West Bromwich Albion in their previous two outings.

Despite a 1-0 win in South Wales just over two weeks ago, the Hammers have dropped to seventh place and are now eight points behind second-placed Swansea City, putting Nuno under increasing pressure.

Supporters have rarely been sold on the Portuguese manager’s position, but questions are now being raised by the hierarchy, and a new report from Alan Nixon of The Sun – via his Patreon service – has revealed THREE bosses that West Ham have decided to target as potential replacements in the event that a change in the dugout occurs soon.

Kieran McKenna

The first name to appear on what is described as a “three-man emergency shortlist” of managers to choose from in the near future if Nuno fails to turn West Ham’s fortunes around is Kieran McKenna, who is still out of work after leaving Ipswich Town unexpectedly at the start of the summer.

McKenna led the Tractor Boys to their second consecutive second-tier promotion at Portman Road last season, finishing second behind Frank Lampard’s Coventry City, but he decided to leave in June to spend more time with his family.

The 40-year-old had been linked with the Fulham job as a replacement for Marco Silva and was also considered by Bournemouth prior to Marco Rose’s appointment, but the Cherries were reportedly put off by an £8 million compensation package.

Interestingly, that sum remains in play despite McKenna’s departure, as Ipswich sought to protect themselves when negotiating his exit, even if reports suggest that the fee could be reduced closer to next year’s 1 July cut-off point to prevent Town from effectively losing the three-time promotion winner for free.

If West Ham want to replace Nuno with McKenna, they will have to cough up the cash and invest in a young head coach with a glowing reputation for front-footed possession-based football, three promotions – two of them at Championship level – and some Premier League experience.

Scott Parker

Scott Parker, meanwhile, is another manager mentioned in West Ham’s thinking about life after Nuno, which is becoming an increasingly likely scenario, and this particular interest may come as no surprise given the ex-England international’s availability and previous Hammers history.

Indeed, many fans have recently urged the club to consider returning Parker to management, with the 46-year-old available following his departure from Burnley at the end of the previous season.

Parker, a proven promotion specialist with heavily-fancied and recently relegated Championship squads, returned Fulham to the Premier League via the play-offs in his first full season at Craven Cottage before finishing second to Bournemouth in the 2021/22 season.

Parker then repeated the trick at Burnley two seasons ago, finishing second on goal difference to Daniel Farke’s star-studded Leeds United side, while also amassing 100 points.

The former Premier League midfielder, who played 126 games for West Ham between spells with Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, has found top-flight managing far more challenging, with two relegations at Fulham and Burnley.

His return to West Ham may also split opinion, as while Parker retains much popularity among fans, some have never forgiven the manner of his 2011 post-relegation exit to rivals Spurs and will be sceptical of his top-flight managerial record.

Parker’s corpus of performance at Championship level, however, speaks volumes, and Nixon has remarked that the 46-year-old is even more prepared than McKenna due to no compensation-related problems, whereas his history with West Ham suggests that the club’s interest in his services makes perfect sense.

Rob Edwards

West Ham’s third and last emergency replacement possibility is Rob Edwards, who, like McKenna and Parker, has not managed since last season.

Indeed, Nixon claims that sources close to the club are pushing Edwards’ name especially hard and pleading his case to the Hammers’ top powerbrokers in the event that significant action is taken on Nuno’s future, with the former Middlesbrough and Wolves manager clearly having no shortage of admirers at the London Stadium.

Edwards has been connected with a number of roles since his departure from Wolves, which came unexpectedly when pre-season preparations and new post-relegation recruits were prioritised over replacing Cesar Peixoto.

His return to Molineux would last only seven months, and with Edwards appointed for his Championship pedigree in November of last year, when the Old Gold were already at the bottom of the table with no wins in their first 11 games, his dismissal was widely regarded as harsh.

Edwards had, however, left Middlesbrough, where he had led an early-season promotion charge after only taking over in the previous summer. Naturally, Edwards has a bad image on Teesside and has had mixed results in recent years.

He first made his mark at Forest Green Rovers, winning the League Two title in 2021/22, before moving to Watford, where, like others at Vicarage Road, his time was cut short after just a few months.

The 43-year-old, however, quickly found a home with Luton Town and led the Hatters to a historic first-ever Premier League promotion against all odds in May 2023.

Edwards’ time at Kenilworth Road was a mixed bag, to say the least, as Town fell straight back down to the Championship before he was fired in January of last year for leading them into an unexpected relegation battle, which they were unable to overcome with the subsequent appointment of Matt Bloomfield.