‘The right fit’: Graham Potter aims high at West Ham after arrival as head coach
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Graham Potter has claimed he and West Ham are the perfect match after taking over as head coach on a two-and-a-half-year contract. The 49-year-old is back in work for the first time since a difficult seven-month spell at Chelsea ended in April 2023 and is targeting “consistent success”.
Potter appointment was announced by the club on Thursday after the sacking of Julen Lopetegui. His first game will be in the FA Cup at Aston Villa on Friday and West Ham have two Premier League home games next week, against Fulham and Crystal Palace. They are 14th, seven points above the relegation zone.
“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 am joining,” Potter said. “That is the feeling I have with West Ham United.”. He said conversations with the chairman, David Sullivan, and the board had shown him “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”. He intends to build on the success of David Moyes, Lopetegui’s predecessor, who won West Ham’s first trophy in 43 years.
“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,” Potter said. “The club have 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.”.
