Nuno Espirito Santo is under tremendous pressure as he aims to get West Ham out of the relegation zone.
Currently, West Ham are in 18th place in the Premier League, seven points behind Nottingham Forest in 17th.
While Nuno has been in sack danger, the hierarchy have not yet decided to pull the plug and part ways with the Portuguese.
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Nuno Espirito Santo will likely be owed compensation if West Ham sack him
Adam Williams, GRV Media’s Head of Football Finance and Governance Content, addressed claims of how the Hammers will handle Nuno’s potential sacking.
In his view, reports that claim the club will not owe him any compensation are not likely to be true.
Given the fact that the Portuguese’s stock was high after a successful time at Nottingham Forest, Williams believes that he is unlikely to agree a contract without compensation attached.
The finance expert told Hammers News exclusively: “There are a lot of unknowns and red herrings in terms of the info around Nuno Espirito Santo’s contract.
“For one, I’ve seen £4.5m quoted as his salary, but that figure seems to be coming from a handful of websites that purport to know Premier League clubs’ wage bills but, in reality, are absolutely miles off it. If you search ‘West Ham wage bill’ on Google, for example, the first few results say their first-team payroll is between £85m and £95m.
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“In reality, however, the club’s own audited accounts show that the wage bill at the last count was £161m. Even when you factor in non first-team player and staff wages, there is still a huge discrepancy between these two sources, so I would take details of Nuno’s salary with a lorry load of salt.
“On top of that, there are some reports that, if he was sacked this season, Nuno wouldn’t be due any kind of compensation. I find that hard to believe.
“It’s true that clubs will often insert a break clause in a manager’s deal that stipulates that the compensation will be lower in the first year of a contract, but I am highly sceptical that Nuno – a manager whose stock was relatively high after his time at Forest – would agree to a deal with zero compensation in year one attached, especially considering the risk he was taking on in succeeding Graham Potter. So I’d be stunned if there was no payout whatsoever.“
Photo by Kevin Hodgson/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesWest Ham set to face £100m blow in event of relegation
It is understood that the Hammers will certainly be paying at least seven figures if they are to part ways with Nuno this season.
The West Ham boss has around two-and-a-half years left on his deal and likely will have agreed a settlement before he accepted the job.
Also, the club are unlikely to hesitate to pull the trigger, purely from a financial standpoint, as the gains from staying in the Premier League would easily pay for the compensation.
Relegation would see the club’s top line sinking by £100m overnight, and that is not something David Sullivan would want.
Williams added: “He has roughly two-and-a-half years left on his deal. Most contracts include a pre-agreed settlement if the club chooses to terminate the deal early, which will rise and fall depending on the time remaining on the contract, whether certain targets have been met and so on. Maybe it’s a year’s salary, say.
“There might also be a condition that the amount falls if Nuno accepts a job elsewhere within a certain timeframe. So there are simply too many variables to say a number with any certainty. We’re certainly looking at seven figures though.
“Next to the cost of relegation, that is clearly a drop in the ocean. West Ham’s top line would shrink by £100m pretty much overnight in the Championship, even with parachute payments. Even if replacing the manager was the difference between finishing 19th and 18th, the compensation would pay for itself, because each place in the Premier League is worth £3m.
“So you have to look at it through a football lens, not a financial one. Too many clubs get this the wrong way around. You lead with football, first and foremost, then the revenues come if you make the right football decisions. Clearly, the problems run deeper than the manager – and I have little faith that the owners will make the right football decision, whatever that may be.“
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