West Ham United Football Club, an association football club based in Stratford, London, have had eighteen 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 Englishman Graham Potter, appointed in 2025 after Julen Lopetegui 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.
Lou Macari.
For their next manager, West Ham did not appoint from within the club – former Swindon Town manager Lou Macari was given the job on 3 July 1989. He had a reputation for discipline and tried to change the training and dietary habits of the players. This met with some disapproval within the playing ranks. Macari bought in new recruits in future regular players, Luděk Mikloško, Trevor Morley, Martin Allen and Ian Bishop. His team struggled to make much headway towards promotion and by the end of 1989 were in tenth place in The Second Division. They were also knocked out of the FA Cup by Torquay United on 6 January 1990 in the Third Round. Shortly after, it emerged that Macari was being investigated for betting irregularities while at his former club, Swindon Town.
Billy Bonds.
Macari resigned in February 1990 in order to "clear his name". Former player Ronnie Boyce stood in as manager for a single game. The next manager was Billy Bonds, a popular choice who took-up the post on 23 February 1990. It was too late for Bonds to turn the season around, however, and they finished seventh. In the following season, with Trevor Morley scoring 17 goals and McAvennie 11, Bonds guided West Ham to second place and promotion to the First Division and an FA Cup semi-final place before being beaten in controversial circumstances by Nottingham Forest. Now back in the top flight, Bonds saw West Ham through one of their most controversial seasons. With the club planning to introduce a bond scheme, there was crowd unrest. New players Mike Small and Clive Allen were unable to provide the goals and the team finished bottom with only nine wins, only three after the turn of the new year. With the club now back in the second tier, Bonds appointed Harry Redknapp as his assistant at the start of the season. Bond's West Ham finished second and again gained promotion, this time to the FA Premier League. With Morley and Allen scoring 40 goals, they gained promotion on the last day of the season with a 2–0 home win against Cambridge United. With the team in the FA Premier League there was a need to rebuild the team. Oxford United player Joey Beauchamp was recruited for a fee of £1.2 million. Shortly after arriving at the club, he complained that he should not have made the move as it was too far from his Oxford home. Bonds found this attitude hard to understand compared with his own committed, never-say-die style. This was the first evidence of his losing appetite for the modern game and modern player. Fifty-eight days later, Beauchamp was signed by Swindon for a club-record combined fee of £800,000, which included defender Adrian Whitbread going in the opposite direction; Whitbread was valued at £750,000 in the deal. Assistant manager Harry Redknapp was also now taking a bigger role in the transfer of players, with the club's approval. With rumours of his old club, AFC Bournemouth being prepared to offer him a position the West Ham board and their managing director, Peter Storrie made a controversial move. Anxious not to lose Redknapp's services the West Ham board offered Bonds a place away from the day-to-day affairs of the club, on the West Ham board. This would have allowed them to appoint Redknapp as manager. Bonds refused the post offered and walked away from the club. His accusations of deceit and manipulation by the board and by Redknapp have continued to cause ill-feeling. Peter Storrie claimed they that they had handled the situation correctly, saying, "If Harry had gone to Bournemouth, there was a good chance Bill would have resigned anyway, so we were in a no-win situation. We're sad that Bill is going, and it's a big blow but it's time to move on and we have appointed a great manager."
Harry Redknapp.
Redknapp became manager on 10 August 1994. His time at West Ham was notable for the turnover of players during his tenure and for the level of attractive football and success which had not been seen since the managership of John Lyall. Over 134 players passed through the club while he was manager, producing a net transfer fee deficit of £16 million, even after the £18 million sale of Rio Ferdinand. Some, however, were notably successful, such as the signings of Stuart Pearce, Trevor Sinclair, Paolo Di Canio, John Hartson, Eyal Berkovic and Ian Wright. Some were expensive, international players who failed at West Ham, such as Florin Raducioiu, Davor Šuker (who earned as much in wages as the revenue gained from one entire stand yet made only eight appearances), Christian Bassila (who cost £720,000 and played only 86 minutes of football), Titi Camara, Gary Charles (whose wages amounted to £4.4 million but made only three starts for the club), Rigobert Song, Paulo Futre and Marco Boogers (a player often quoted as one of the biggest failures in the Premier League). His first season in charge saw West Ham fighting the threat of relegation until the last few weeks. His third season saw another relegation battle. Always willing to enter the transfer market, Redknapp bought in the winter transfer window John Hartson and Paul Kitson who added the impetus needed at the season's end.
In 1999, the club finished in fifth position, their highest place since 1986. They also won the Intertoto Cup to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Things started to falter for Redknapp with the sale for £18m to Leeds United of Rio Ferdinand in November 2000. Redknapp used the transfer money poorly with purchases such as Ragnvald Soma (who cost £800,000 and played only seven league games), Camera and Song. Redknapp felt he needed more funds with which to deal in the transfer market. Chairman Brown lost patience with Redknapp