West Ham Football Club, has on Thursday confirmed the appointment of former Chelsea boss, Graham Potter, as its new head coach.
The English Premier League club, said the 49-year-old Graham Potter has joined the Hammers on an 18 months contract.
Potter is not new to English football after his stints at Swansea City and Brighton & Hove Albion. He left Chelsea in 2023.
“West Ham United is delighted to welcome Graham Potter as the club’s new head coach. The 49-year-old joins the Hammers on a two-and-a-half-year contract and will take charge of his new team for the first time when the Irons travel to Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round on Friday evening.
“A highly-respected and sought-after coach, Potter has been awaiting the right opportunity after leaving his last role at Chelsea in April 2023 and was the board’s unanimous choice to take the club forward in line with its objectives and ambitions.
“Potter, whose progressive style and flexible tactical approach previously impressed at Swedish club Östersund, Swansea City and Brighton & Hove Albion, has a passion for a return to Premier League management and is relishing the opportunity to work with West Ham United’s talented squad of international players,” the club statement read on Thursday.
In his remark, Potter expressed his excitement at his return to the English domestic flight, noting that the move came at the right time for him.
He vowed to build on the club’s bedrock to develop a team that club supporters will be proud of.
“I’m delighted to be here. It was important to me that I waited until a job came along that I felt was right for me, and equally that I was the right fit for the club I’m joining. That is the feeling I have with West Ham United.
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“My conversations with the chairman and the board have been very positive and constructive, we share the same values of hard work and high energy to create the solid foundations that can produce success, and we are on the same wavelength in terms of what is needed in the short-term and then how we want to move the club forward in the medium to long term.
“West Ham United is a huge club, at the heart of London, with a tremendous fan base and great support all around the world. I saw the scenes that followed their Europa Conference League victory in 2023 and it was clear that this is a club with everything in place to become consistently successful, both on and off the pitch.
“The club has made a lot of good progress in recent years and ensured there are some very strong foundations in place to build on. You don’t win a European trophy by fluke – there has to be a good bedrock at a football club for that to happen, and the challenge now is to take that on and build the next steps, to develop a team and a club that the supporters can be proud of,” Potter said.
Potter will be joined at the Hammers by his Assistant Coach, Bruno, First-team coaches — Billy Reid and Narcís Pèlach, among others.
