![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/David-Sullivan-Nuno-Espirito-Santo-1-1140x641.jpg\")
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(Credit: Imago)<\/p>\n
![\"Callum](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767526514_218_0b51cc5e83eff516a40e917d327dc30e.png\")
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Sun 4 January 2026 9:10, UK <\/p>\n
West Ham are now at serious risk of relegation with the situation both behind the scenes and on the pitch not showing any signs of improvement.<\/strong><\/p>\n That is according to former West Ham senior scout Mick Brown<\/a>, who remains very well-connected at his previous club, as he exclusively told Football Insider<\/strong> that the club had banked on there being at least three worse teams before the season began.<\/p>\n Sources from inside the club explained that decision-makers have been surprised by both Leeds<\/a> and Sunderland<\/a>\u2018s impressive displays since being promoted.<\/p>\n This comes after West Ham lost 3-0 to Wolves<\/a> on Saturday, a stunning result against a team who had previously picked up just two points all season.<\/p>\n The Hammers remain 18th in the Premier League, four points adrift of Nottingham Forest<\/a> ahead of what is now a relegation six-pointer on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Brown told Football Insider<\/strong> on 2 January that West Ham have serious problems<\/a>, and sacking Nuno would do little to ease the growing concerns behind the scenes.<\/p>\n The former scout, who has a wealth of experience working closely alongside top-level managers including the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes, insisted that the club\u2019s attitude towards the season shows exactly where their issues are coming from.<\/p>\n MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES<\/p>\n \u201cWest Ham are in serious trouble this year,\u201d he told Football Insider.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe word is, \u2018they didn\u2019t expect Leeds and Sunderland to do as well as they have\u2019, so from what I\u2019m hearing, they were banking on there being three worse teams than them.<\/p>\n \u201cDid they expect them just to roll over and accept going back down? It\u2019s a crazy thing to hear.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you start doing that, you\u2019re already in trouble because it means you\u2019re not good enough.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re looking around at other teams in the league, hoping they\u2019ll be worse off and you\u2019ll stay up by default, what does that say about your club and your players?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does it say about their attitude towards the season, hoping they\u2019d be good enough to stay up without making any real investment?<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I left the club, I said they would end up getting relegated within three years.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know how true that was likely to be, but they\u2019ve got massive problems there and it\u2019s only getting worse. It\u2019s a basket case.\u201d<\/p>\n Could Nuno Espirito Santo be sacked at the London Stadium?<\/p>\n Following the embarrassing defeat to Wolves, West Ham fans are calling for Nuno\u2019s head<\/a>, with many insisting he should have been immediately sacked at full time.<\/p>\n Despite having no plans to do so as things stand, Brown warned\u00a0Football Insider<\/strong>\u00a0that\u00a0West Ham could be forced to sack Nuno<\/a>\u00a0as speculation about his future continues.<\/p>\n This comes amid a backdrop of protests against the board of directors, with many fans calling for changes to be made from the top.<\/p>\n When the fans start to put pressure on the owners, their response in years gone by has been to sack the manager and ease that pressure, and that could happen again.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Brown told Football Insider<\/strong> on 3 January that West Ham could appoint Slaven Bilic<\/a> and have him lined up to step in should Nuno be dismissed.<\/p>\n For more West Ham and exclusive news, follow us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0or join our brand new\u00a0WhatsApp Channel<\/a>\u00a0for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credit: Imago) Sun 4 January 2026 9:10, UK West Ham are now at serious risk of relegation with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,2922,2958,16,15,11505],"class_list":{"0":"post-673181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-leeds-united","13":"tag-sunderland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-west-ham-united"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115836625458231439","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"West](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/west-ham-david-sullivan-2-1024x576.png\")
Credit: ImagoWest Ham have serious problems after pre-season confession<\/p>\n![\"West](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/imago1069796424-1024x682.jpg\")
Credit: Imago<\/p>\n