List of West Ham United F.C. managers
, an association football club based in Stratford, London, have had twenty permanent managers in their history and an additional three caretaker managers. Up until 1989 the club had only had five different managers. Before the appointment of Gianfranco Zola in 2008 the club never had an overseas manager, with the only non-Englishman being the Scot, Lou Macari. The current manager is the Portuguese Nuno Espírito Santo, appointed in 2025 after Graham Potter was dismissed. Three former West Ham players have taken on temporary managerial roles at the club, between permanent managers. Ronnie Boyce briefly took the reins, in February 1990, between Macari's resignation and the appointment of Billy Bonds. Former Hammers player and board member Trevor Brooking was briefly in charge during two separate spells as caretaker manager in 2003, first during the illness of Glenn Roeder and again between Roeder's sacking and the appointment of Alan Pardew. Former player Kevin Keen has been caretaker manager twice; immediately prior to Zola's appointment in 2008 and after the sacking of Avram Grant in 2011.
Managers
Prior to the appointment of West Ham's first manager, team selection was the responsibility of a committee. Lew Bowen served as secretary for the club's initial season of 1900–01.Syd King
In May 1902, West Ham appointed full-back Syd King as secretary-manager. King had replaced Bowen as secretary at the start of the 1901–02 season, combining the role with his playing duties. A player with West Ham's predecessor team Thames Ironworks, he continued to play for the newly formed club until 1903. He remained manager until 1932, when he was sacked. He later committed suicide.Charlie Paynter
King was replaced by Charlie Paynter, who had been appointed reserve-team trainer in 1902 and was promoted to first-team trainer when Syd King was appointed as manager. Paynter was appointed on 1 November 1932.Ted Fenton
Paynter remained as manager until 1950 when he was replaced by Ted Fenton on 1 August 1950. Fenton was a PT instructor for the Army in North Africa and Burma during World War II. He had, since 1948, been Paynter's assistant manager. Fenton's greatest achievement was in winning the Division Two championship in the 1957–58 season and thereby securing the club top flight football for the first time since 1932. The 1957–58 and 1958–59 seasons saw West Ham achieve two goalscoring records; in 1957–58, the club scored 101 league goals, and in 1958–59, the club scored 59 home league goals in a season, which was even more remarkable it being the season following promotion to Division One. During his time, Fenton was responsible for establishing the Academy and the development of youth teams that reached the FA Youth Cup final twice in three years over the period 1956–59.With the help of chairman Reg Pratt, he was also responsible for encouraging as many players as possible to take their FA Coaching Badges to ensure the players had something to fall back on when their playing days were over. Seven of the West Ham 1964 FA Cup winning team had either been signed by Ted Fenton from other clubs, or had worked their way up from The Academy during his time as manager. Fenton's departure from West Ham in March 1961 has never been fully explained by the club. Under strain and on sick-leave and with West Ham's league position suffering, he left the club under circumstances which both he and the club decided would remain confidential.
Ron Greenwood
In April 1961, Pratt selected Ron Greenwood as manager. His reign at West Ham brought them sizeable success. He oversaw the development of players such as the 1966 FIFA World Cup-winning trio of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, and under him the Hammers won the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965, the first two major trophies of their history. He moved upstairs in 1974, becoming the club's general manager for the next three years, with John Lyall being placed in charge of the first team.John Lyall
Lyall was appointed on 16 April 1974. In 1975, at the end of his first season as manager, West Ham won the FA Cup final and reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup the following year, losing 4–2 to Anderlecht. West Ham, however, slipped down to the Second Division in 1978. Lyall attempted to rebuild the side and made significant purchases in Phil Parkes, £565,000 from Queens Park Rangers, a world record for a goalkeeper and Ray Stewart from Dundee United for £430,000, a British record for a teenager. West Ham returned to the First Division in 1981, winning the title by a 13-point margin.During their exile from the top flight, on 10 May 1980 West Ham beat Arsenal in the FA Cup final, the last lower league side to do so. In their 1981 promotion season, Lyall also led the Hammers to the final of the League Cup – where they drew 1–1 against Liverpool, before losing the replay 2–1, having led early in the match. They also reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup in the same year.
West Ham spent the first four years back in the top flight consolidating their position. Long serving Trevor Brooking and Frank Lampard both retired and Billy Bonds was struggling with the effects of first team football. Lyall again attempted to rebuild the team bringing Frank McAvennie from St Mirren and Mark Ward from Oldham Athletic. 28 goals from McAvennie, 25 from Tony Cottee and an eighteen-game unbeaten run saw Lyall take West Ham to their highest ever league finish in the 1985–1986 First Division campaign when they finished third behind champions Liverpool and runners-up Everton. However, they were unable to compete in the UEFA Cup because of the ban on English teams from European competition arising from the previous year's Heysel Disaster.
Lyall failed to build on the side which finished third in the First Division. McAvennie was sold to Celtic in 1987 and Cottee to Everton in July 1988 for a British transfer record of £2.05 million. Their replacements combined with the additions of Tommy McQueen, Gary Strodder, David Kelly, Allen McKnight, Liam Brady, Julian Dicks and the return of McAvennie in March 1989 failed to save West Ham from relegation in May 1989.
Lyall was sacked on 5 June 1989. He was awarded an ex gratia payment of £100,000 but left the club in what Lyall described as "upsetting" circumstances, meriting only 73 words in a terse acknowledgement of his service in the club programme. Lyall left West Ham after 34 years service.