The Hammers, who are 19th after five league matches, have managed just one victory this season.

However, it was the manner of their four defeats — marked by disjointed performances and a lack of visible progress from last campaign — that sparked growing frustration among fans.

Despite Potter insisting on Friday that he had held “positive talks” with the board, the club announced his dismissal the following morning, ending his nine-month spell at the London Stadium.

“West Ham United can confirm that Head Coach Graham Potter has left the Club,” the statement read.

“Results and performances over the course of the second half of last season and the start of the 2025/26 season have not matched expectations, and the Board of Directors believe that a change is necessary in order to help improve the team’s position in the Premier League as soon as possible.

“The Club can confirm that Assistant Coach Bruno Saltor, First Team Coaches Billy Reid and Narcis Pelach, Lead Goalkeeper Coach Casper Ankergren, and Goalkeeper Coach Linus Kandolin have also left with immediate effect.

“The Board would like to thank Graham and his coaching staff for their hard work during their time with the Hammers and wish them every success for the future. The process of appointing a replacement is underway. The Club will be making no further comment at this time.”

Potter leaves the club with a modest record of six wins, five draws and 14 defeats from 25 games in charge, during which his team scored 30 goals but conceded 41.

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West Ham United have announced the appointment of Graham Potter as their new manager, following the dismissal of Julen Lopetegui.

Lopetegui’s tenure ended on Wednesday, six months after replacing David Moyes. West Ham managed only seven wins in 22 matches across all competitions during his stint. The club confirmed Lopetegui’s departure shortly after finalizing terms with Potter, whose arrival has now been made official.

Upon signing a two-and-a-half-year contract, Potter expressed his excitement:
“I am delighted to be here. It was important to me to wait for the right opportunity, and I believe West Ham United is the perfect fit for me. My discussions with the Chairman and the Board have been extremely positive. We share a commitment to hard work, high energy, and a vision for both short-term and long-term success.

🗣️ “I’m really, really excited”

Graham Potter’s first words as West Ham Head Coach ⚒️

— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 9, 2025

“West Ham United is a massive club, situated at the heart of London, with a passionate fanbase and worldwide support. Witnessing the celebrations following the Europa Conference League victory in 2023, it’s clear this club has everything in place to achieve consistent success, both on and off the pitch.

“The Club has made significant strides in recent years, establishing strong foundations that we can build upon. Winning a European trophy is no accident; it reflects a solid structure within the Club. Now, the challenge is to take the next steps – developing a team and a Club the supporters can take pride in.”

This marks Potter’s return to management since leaving Chelsea in April 2023. His first match in charge will be on Friday, as West Ham face Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round.

West Ham United is delighted to welcome Graham Potter as the Club’s new Head Coach ⚒️

— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 9, 2025

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The former Brighton and Chelsea boss has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with the Hammers and will be officially unveiled during a press conference at London Stadium on Thursday morning.

Lopetegui, appointed in May to succeed David Moyes, lasted just six months in charge, with his tenure formally beginning on July 1. Under his leadership, West Ham struggled, winning only six Premier League matches.

The team’s latest setback, a 4-1 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday, marked their ninth loss in 20 league games this season, leaving the club in 14th place, just seven points above the relegation zone.

In their statement, West Ham said: “The first half of the 2024-25 season has not aligned with the club’s ambitions, and the club has therefore taken action in line with its objectives.”

Along with Lopetegui, the club has dismissed his backroom staff, including assistant Pablo Sanz, head of performance Oscar Caro, head analyst Juan Vicente Peinado, fitness coach Borja de Alba, and technical coach Edu Rubio.

“The board would like to thank Julen and his staff for their hard work during their time with the Hammers and wish them every success for the future,” the statement added.

Sources suggest Potter chose West Ham over other opportunities due to the club’s stable ownership, willingness to provide managers with time to develop their vision, and the strength of the squad relative to other lower-tier Premier League teams.

West Ham views Potter as a coach with a proven Premier League record, known for developing players and maximizing the potential of his squads. The club believes he can achieve more with the players signed during the summer transfer window than Lopetegui managed.

Potter’s first challenge as West Ham manager is likely to be the FA Cup clash against Aston Villa on Friday.

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Youngster Noni Madueke has told Chelsea fans they expect to see the ‘real me’ during the 2023/24 season.

The 21-year-old transferred to Stamford Bridge in January 2023 for an estimated £28.5 million, although interim manager Frank Lampard and head coach Graham Potter only occasionally used him in the second half of the season.

Madueke started just seven games overall for the Blues and only managed one goal, the consolation in a 3-1 loss to Arsenal in May.

The wide player reflected on a challenging first half-season with Chelsea in an interview with the Evening Standard and let fans know what to expect from him going forward.

“A lot of changes are out of the players’ hands, but you roll with the punches,” he said.

“I guess when the club wants to do something a bit special, there’s bound to be changes. We’re trying to create a squad that can compete for the next 10 years. I definitely performed well, showed my ability, but next season you’ll see the real me.

“Next season, I want to contribute massively to Chelsea winning. That’s it. We’re all buzzing to come back in pre-season with the new manager, forget last year and bring Chelsea back to where they’re meant to be; fighting for titles.”

Madueke also talked about how Mauricio Pochettino would affect his budding career, expressing excitement at the idea of working with the Argentine.

“If he can make me better, I’ll be a very good player,” he added. “That’s exciting. I will never compromise the way I play – my game is already risky as it is. It’s about becoming as effective as I am skilful.

“Young players need a manager that can develop them further. You see Jude [Bellingham] made a move to Real Madrid at 19 years of age. It’s about how good you are. If you’re the best in your position, you play.”

With England, Madueke is currently taking part in the Under-21 European Championships. He made his Young Lions debut in their victory over the Czech Republic.

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Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has broken his silence on Chelsea’s disastrous 2022/23 campaign under his management.

Under the new ownership, the Blues had a disastrous first season, going through three different managers (Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, and current interim manager Frank Lampard).

With five games remaining, Chelsea is only nine points above the relegation zone, which means they are still not assured a spot in the Premier League next season.

Boehly asserted that the new owners of Chelsea will ‘figure it out’ and return the team to the top of the Premier League in an interview with Milken Institute chairman Michael Milken.

He said: “The fans are demanding. You know they want to win and we get that we want to win. I think our view though was that this is a long-term project and you know we’re committed to the long-term.

“We very much believe that we’re going to figure it out. We’ve got the best league in the world, we’ve got what I think is the top city in the world and we’ve got an unbelievable location in the top city in the world.

“Winning is just the best feeling there is. You have to build a team and obviously the coach is the conductor of the team. So I think there is a lot we have learned.”

Chelsea can move a step closer to Premier League survival with a win over in-form Bournemouth on Saturday.

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Kai Havertz criticizes the ‘out of nowhere’ termination of Thomas Tuchel by Chelsea.

Kai Havertz bemoaned Chelsea’s choice of sacking Thomas Tuchel, claiming that it had a significant impact on the Blues’ season.

In summary, the 2022–23 season for Chelsea was totally terrible. After sacking both Graham Potter, who replaced Thomas Tuchel as manager, and Lampard, a caretaker, the Blues are now led by interim manager Frank Lampard. They have scored fewer goals than all but the lowest three teams in the league.

Havertz, a forward who has only scored seven Premier League goals this season, highlighted what has gone wrong for Chelsea in an interview with Sky Germany. He made reference to the abysmal 2022–23 season being sparked by the club’s decision to remove Tuchel.

“Everything that could go wrong went wrong for us this year. The season actually started relatively quietly even though we had a change of ownership, which was a big change for the whole club,” he said.

“And then Thomas Tuchel was fired, which of course always makes a big difference in a team like this when you’ve been successful with a coach and then he gets fired out of nowhere. We got a lot of new players over the winter who first have to settle in with us in order to be able to show their quality.

“Of course it’s easy to find excuses. I’m not blaming everything on something. At the end of the day, we’re all professional footballers and we have to win football games.

“Now we have our backs to the wall and aren’t doing very well in the table. We just have to do as well as possible from the last six games.”

On Tuesday night, Chelsea and Arsenal will square off with the goal of reaching 40 points for the 2022–23 season.

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As Chelsea gets closer to hiring Mauricio Pochettino as their next manager, Frank Lampard has endorsed their choice to look at all possible candidates.

Chelsea’s hiring staff evaluated a number of candidates, including Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique, after Graham Potter was fired last month.

But Pochettino, the former manager of Tottenham, is now anticipated to take over at Stamford Bridge after Lampard’s interim tenure is over. Pochettino has been unemployed since he was fired by Paris Saint-Germain last summer.

Chelsea had thought about replacing Potter immediately with a permanent successor, but Lampard thinks he knows why the team’s next manager will prefer to wait until the end of the current campaign.

‘Do they [Chelsea] need to take their time to get the right manager? Yeah, they absolutely should do,’ Lampard said.

‘We are at that stage of the season now where we understand that we are not going to get into Europe, and other managers are probably going, ‘I’ll take a look at this and wait till pre-season when I can enforce what I want to do’.

‘It’s not silly on their part, we’ve got the top four in the run-in and that is going to be a difficult process of games.’

Lampard also believes Chelsea need to abandon their previous strategy of frequently changing managers in order to build long-term success.

‘I don’t think there is always an obvious method but I do think that if you are trying to work for something, you look at the successful models at the top end of the league at the minute and you see managers that have been working there a long time,’ Lampard said.

‘Recruitment is aligned with the type of squad and identity they want to bring and it works in a direction.

‘You see City, Liverpool and Arsenal [have success with long-term managers]. So, clearly, if you want to get there it’s something that hopefully aligns. At the moment for us it hasn’t. We have to find a way that it does.

‘I was always part of the Chelsea team that changed managers regularly. With casual hindsight it is easy to say I had great success. I won three [league] titles but I should have won five or six. That’s my feeling.

‘We might have won more titles if we’d had more consistency and been able to work in one direction. And I feel like we should have done.’

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According to reports, Chelsea and Mauricio Pochettino’s agents have reached an agreement in principle for the Argentine to serve as their next head coach.

The Blues have been interviewing potential candidates as they look for Graham Potter’s long-term replacement for the last month.

Former Barcelona manager Luis Enrique and former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann were the first managers Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital met with about the role.

After an early round of negotiations, Chelsea distanced themselves from Enrique, and Nagelsmann withdrew from consideration last week.

While Luciano Spalletti of Napoli, Ruben Amorim of Sporting CP, and Vincent Kompany of Burnley were all praised, Pochettino emerged as Chelsea’s new top choice, and the two sides have been engaged in discussions over the past several days.

According to reports, a contract has been made in principle for Pochettino to lead Chelsea, and the specifics of the arrangement are now being worked out.

The Argentine is attempting to relocate his four regular coaches to west London: assistants Jesus Perez and Miguel D’Agostino, goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez, and his sports scientist son Sebastiano Pochettino. These negotiations are still in progress.

According to a February story, Pochettino rejected a Chelsea offer in part because Potter was still in charge and was still more than a month away from losing his job.

Pochettino has been jobless since parting ways with Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the previous campaign. Although he had shown interest in rejoining old team Tottenham, the north London club never made an approach, which allowed rivals Chelsea to pounce.

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After Chelsea lost to Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal match, Frank Lampard is now the owner of an unwanted 118-year Chelsea record.

The Blues fell by a score of 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, the same margin by which they had lost in Madrid the week before, and thus were eliminated from this season’s competition as well as from any chance of competing in any kind of European football in 2023/24.

Following the club’s decision to fire Graham Potter less than seven months into the five-year contract he signed when signing from Brighton, Chelsea veteran Lampard was named caretaker manager in early April. However, he has been unable to stop the club’s terrifying slide.

His brief stay, which has coincided with a period of significant fixture overload, has resulted in four straight losses, the first time that has happened to a Chelsea manager in the club’s 118-year history.

Before Real Madrid cruised over Chelsea with a 2-0 victory at the Bernabeu, Lampard’s return to the club began with a 1-0 loss to Wolves. Then Potter’s old team, Brighton, showed up in west London to claim the three points, easily outplaying their opponents in a 2-1 victory.

Although Chelsea gave a better performance in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal match against Real Madrid on Tuesday, they still lost and have only scored one goal since Lampard returned to the bench.

Many Chelsea supporters embraced Lampard’s return as an interim manager because of his legendary position there.

However, factoring at the end of his spell as Everton’s manager, the numbers don’t make for pretty reading. His last 17 games – including this short Chelsea return – have spawned 14 defeats and the concession of 38 goals. In that time, Lampard’s teams have only scored eight times.

His overall career win percentage is currently 42.3%, with his first stint at Chelsea producing some of his best managerial performances to date.

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Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez has reportedly informed the club that he wants former River Plate boss Marcelo Gallardo to take over permanently.

They both worked at River and once Fernandez graduated from their academy, Gallardo gave him his first team start there in 2019.

According to UOL, the 22-year-old still views his former coach as a “father figure” and would be happy to meet him again, apparently giving Chelsea “the go-ahead” to make their move.

Even further, the Brazilian site claims that Gallardo is “near” to being appointed.

The 47-year-old has not held a managerial position since leaving River in November, but rumours out of Argentina indicate that he is eager to return and is optimistic about being hired by Chelsea.

Since leaving River, Gallardo is rumoured to have started learning English, and he is eager to test his skills against those of the Premier League.

Of course, it will be the Chelsea hierarchy, not Gallardo or Fernandez, who will make that choice.

Given that Graham Potter was dismissed from his duties owing to his relative inexperience at the top level, the nomination of the Argentine tactician would undoubtedly be a surprise. Early frontrunners for the position include high-calibre names like Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique.

The latter is rumoured to have spoken with Chelsea representatives in person last week.

However, Todd Boehly and the company appointed Frank Lampard on an interim basis precisely to give them time to explore their choices, thus Gallardo’s name will probably still be on the list.

In the meanwhile, Fernandez and co have a Champions League quarter-final to attend, as they travel to holders Real Madrid in Wednesday’s first leg.

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Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has insisted that Frank Lampard is the ideal candidate to lead Chelsea ahead of their UEFA Champions League clash.

After Graham Potter was sacked by the Blues just a few months after succeeding Thomas Tuchel, Lampard was appointed as interim manager at his old club.

The 44-year-old started his management career in 2018 with Derby County before moving on to his initial, roughly 18-month assignment at Chelsea. He signed up with Everton in 2022 but left earlier this year and is currently back at Stamford Bridge.

When asked at a press conference about Lampard’s lack of experience compared to him as a manager, Ancelotti said: “I don’t think my experience will change what happens tomorrow. Lampard has been a great player who I coached for two years.

“He knows these kinds of games well and how to prepare his team. He has been here for a week, but he will do well in the time he is at Chelsea.”

On the upcoming match against Chelsea, Ancelotti added: “We have to think it’s a 180-minute game and try to do well tomorrow. It’s not decisive, but we can help manage the second leg better. We’re looking forward to getting back in the Champions League and experiencing a magical night at the Bernabeu.”

The Real Madrid manager also reflected on their Champions League quarterfinal matchup against Chelsea from a year ago, where Los Blancos blew a two-goal lead but prevailed in overtime.

“We had a very bad time here and we have to respect Chelsea. They are not going through a good moment, but they have a very good team. Sometimes when you’re at your worst, you bring out the best,” Ancelotti said.

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Frank Lampard’s return to Chelsea, according to Mateo Kovacic, is “good news,” since the coach has already made it clear what he expects from his team.

The Blues icon, who was relieved of his managerial duties at Stamford Bridge back in January 2021, has been reappointed by the Premier League heavyweights as caretaker boss following the sacking of Graham Potter. 

As Lampard spent 13 wonderful years playing for Chelsea, he is well-versed in West London life, and Kovacic is pleased to see a familiar face taking on the responsibility of turning around a poor season.

Kovacic, who played under Lampard during his first spell as Blues boss, has told Sky Sports: “We know him, he was our coach. It’s good news that he is back and trying to change our season, because it’s not been good. We need to be honest with ourselves. In the end it is easier to sack a coach than 30 players, but it’s on us as well. We need to do better and to say thank you to Potter, who was here and did a good job. It is not easy when many changes are here, so it was a bad situation for him as well.”

Croatia international midfielder Kovacic added on Lampard’s early messages to the expensively-assembled squad he has inherited from Potter: “We had a short meeting. He explained what he wants and what his desire is for the end of the season. We now have the opportunity to go and climb the table in the league as much as we can and we have two beautiful games with Real Madrid so there is a possibility, and if there is a possibility to finish the season good, then we should take it.

“He came very calm with a clear idea about what he expects from us, but it’s one day so we will see in the next days what he will ask us to do on the pitch and how we prepare. It’s difficult to tell how it’s going to be, but he’s back and we want to do out best for the club.”

Chelsea’s first match under Lampard will be on Saturday when they play at Wolves. The opening leg of their keenly anticipated Champions League quarterfinal matchup with Real Madrid will take place at Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

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