- Nuno Espírito Santo won the Championship with Wolves
- West Ham enter the second tier for the first time in 15 years
- Hammers confirmed the Portuguese coach will stay on last week
The Championship is an infamously difficult league to get out of, a division where many fallen giants currently reside.
Last time West Ham United were in this division, they managed to get back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, thanks to a play-off victory over Blackpool.
They will be aiming to repeat the feat this time around, and with Nuno Espírito Santo, they have a head coach who not only knows the league but has won it.
It was the 2017/18 season, the Portuguese guided Wolves to an impressive 99 points, nine clear of Cardiff City in second.
Speaking to West Ham’s in-house media, Espírito Santo discussed the league and its difficulties.
“Very hard competition”
It is no secret that England’s second tier is gruelling. A league that features 46 games, rather than the 38 that teams play in the Premier League.
Espírito Santo’s Wolves were an impressive side and one that took the Championship by storm. He had his say on what he learned from that year.
“It’s a very hard competition, very demanding. We have 46 games, probably even more (with cup competitions). The cycles of the weeks are different.
“Sometimes you play three times a week. The travelling is going to be different. The opponents are different.”
The former Nottingham Forest coach is correct in his assessment that the teams the Hammers play will be different to what they have faced for the past 15 years.
For a long time, West Ham have been just another fixture on the calendar for the country’s elite teams, but now that they have dropped down a level, teams will be eager to bloody the nose of such a big side.
“Intoxicated by information”
It is a challenge that the former Porto goalkeeper and his coaching staff are clearly relishing, and a good attitude towards the league will be important to success in it: “We’re getting intoxicated by information that is necessary for them to transmit to the players the ideas that we want.”
As Espírito Santo notes, it is essential that both new and old players are on board. He notes that character will be essential: “We need character. We need a lot of character. That doesn’t change. And it didn’t change in the past, and it will be for the future.
“These are the fundamental pillars that I believe every team should have. The commitment, the respect, the ambition, the character, the discipline, the belief, the togetherness, the unity. All these things that we’ve been having here at the club, we must do it better.”
“We owe them badly”
The Irons‘ relegation, following Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 victory over Everton on the final day of the Premier League season, hurt an awful lot of West Ham fans, with many feeling increasingly disconnected from the football club.
This is something that Espírito Santo is all too aware of, and he is actively seeking to bring the club and its fans back together.
“We owe them badly. We owe them a lot, so it’s up to us to give back,” Espírito Santo said.
And the best way to restore that faltering relationship is to get the side back into the top tier.
“We have only one mission. Me, you and everybody here.
“Let’s get back to the Premier League. We must.”
