Category: Football (Soccer)

• West Ham recover from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at Cardiff

• Leaders Middlesbrough beaten 2-0 at Wrexham

Scott Parker’s return to West Ham had had looked like beginning in painful fashion but instead featured a stunning comeback from 3-0 down. The east London club’s new head coach had watched Cardiff’s Jack Moylan help himself to a first-half hat-trick, before a rousing response after the break ended with Max Kilman levelling the scores at 3-3 eight minutes from time. Elsewhere in the Championship, leaders Middlesbrough went down 2-0 at Wrexham.

Parker had been confirmed as West Ham’s head coach earlier on Wednesday, taking over from Nuno Espírito Santo, who was sacked on Tuesday. The club’s former midfielder was appointed on a two-and-a-half year contract.

• Parker takes over team eighth in Championship

• He has overseen three promotions to Premier League

Scott Parker has been confirmed as West Ham’s head coach, taking over from Nuno Espírito Santo, who was sacked on Tuesday. The club’s former midfielder arrives on a two-and-a-half year contract with the team eighth in the Championship and takes charge of his first game at Cardiff on Wednesday.

West Ham hope that Parker, a promotion specialist, can spark a revival after defeats in their past two matches. The 46-year-old has led Burnley, Bournemouth and Fulham into the top flight.

Forget speculation over how a Parker-led side would fare in the Premier League and let the man who has taken three clubs up do his work again

It has taken West Ham six months to come to their senses and sack Nuno Espírito Santo, but at least the decision has arrived early enough to revive their hopes of automatic promotion.

Dithering was no longer an option after the dismal performance against West Brom last Saturday.

• Birmingham sink Millwall to keep up good form

• Norwich thump Rams and pile pressure on Eustace

Terry Devlin’s double denied Swansea the chance to take top spot in the Championship as in-form Portsmouth won 3-1 at Fratton Park.

Devlin’s first-half goal looked like it was going to be enough for Pompey but Zan Vipotnik, the Championship’s top scorer last season, won and converted an 85th-minute penalty to set up a blockbuster finale.

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

While Football Daily hasn’t actually seen much of West Ham this season, we’ve noted enough of their results to presume they were doing OK in their attempt to bounce back to the Premier League after relegation. Less than a third of the way through the Championship season under Nuno Espírito Santo, they’d already spanked six without reply past both Wrexham and Lincoln, while scoring three or more in wins over Wolves, Derby and Bolton. However, it turns out that of the 13 matches they’ve played in a league that is famously difficult to get out of (unless you were Sheffield Wednesday last season), they have actually lost three times and currently sit in eighth place, a whopping six points off leaders Middlesbrough. Given the context of such an unbridgeable chasm, it is small wonder West Ham fans woke up to news that Nuno had been unceremoniously bounced out of the London Stadium with a P45 in hand.

While my heart aches for Jesús de Miguel, who has died after a collision with the Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono, I shudder to think the trauma that shall haunt Owono for the rest of his life. I do hope and pray the wider community understands and extends their support in his recuperation” – Krishna Moorthy.

As an upgrade to Steve Plever’s suggestion of paper thin shirts [Monday’s letters]: how about Velcro shirts? If the bit comes off, it is a shirt pull and the offender has the honour of putting it back in place before being awarded a yellow card” – Mike Harold.

To dive or not to dive seems to be biggest dilemma in the Premier League right now. It’s not. The problem with today’s highly paid professionals is that they simply have no panache at all when they go down. I recall watching Francis Lee pick up the ball on the halfway line at a mud soaked Maine Road in the late 1960s, he put his head down and headed for goal, he was determined, he was single minded. He was 30 yards from goal, he was in full flow. He was tackled from behind and then he really took off, he grew wings, he soared. I swear he landed in the penalty area over 10 yards away. He dragged himself to his feet and without a semblance of a smile smashed the well-deserved penalty, with a very heavy leather ball straight at the centre of the goal at over 70 mph. The goalkeeper, obviously no fool, simply dived out of the way. The press christened him “Lee Won Pen” He was my hero. That man had panache, he had style” – Myles Flynn.

I am interested to read that Aston Villa considered the words of Jamie Carragher “unacceptable insults”. It would obviously help matters if they could publish examples of acceptable insults” – Rupert Jeffery.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions. 

• West Ham intent on instant return to Premier League

• Nuno took over from Graham Potter in September 2025

West Ham are poised to appoint Scott Parker as their manager after sacking Nuno Espírito Santo. Parker has been out of work since leaving Burnley last season but there is optimism he will be in place when West Ham visit Cardiff City on Wednesday.

The club kept faith with Nuno after their relegation from the Premier League last season but patience has snapped with the side eighth in the Championship after the 3-1 defeat by West Bromwich Albion last Saturday.