Category: Championship League

• 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.

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• Favourites for promotion sit eighth in Championship

• Key figures at club losing patience with manager

Nuno Espírito Santo’s future at West Ham is under threat after a disappointing start to the season. West Ham are struggling to live up to their billing as Championship favourites and dropped to eighth after losing 3-1 to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

West Ham are intent on an instant return to the Premier League after Nuno failed to save them from relegation last season, but the setback against West Brom put another dent in their promotion push. West Ham occupy the final playoff spot after consecutive defeats at home and are four points below second placed Swansea. Nuno is expected to be given time to turn the situation around but key figures have become increasingly impatient. The manager faced unrest from supporters during the West Brom game.

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• Hammers fans angry after West Brom seal 3-1 victory

• Swansea win 4-0; Middlesbrough cruise against Charlton

Nuno Espirito Santo is facing mounting pressure after West Brom’s stylish 3-1 win at the London Stadium left West Ham, the Championship promotion favourites, six points off the pace in eighth place.

A second consecutive home defeat contained few saving graces for Nuno, who faced the wrath of fans on the final whistle. Albion, slick and measured, moved into the top four with their 3,000 travelling fans revelling in the discomfort of Nuno, once manager of arch-rivals Wolves.

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• Swiss, 50, also had successful spell at Basel

• He replaces Nicky Hayen with club 22nd in Championship

Burnley have announced former Switzerland midfielder Fabio Celestini as their new head coach four days after sacking Nicky Hayen.

Burnley, who have won only one of their 12 league games this season after relegation from the Premier League, have not disclosed the length of Celestini’s contract. They heralded his appointment by saying in a statement that the 50-year-old “arrives with a proven capacity to win and to adapt to different football environments”.

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• Hammers humbled at home; Swansea thrashed 5-0

• Burnley sack manager Hayen after 4-1 loss at Lincoln

Southampton announced themselves in the promotion race with a statement 3-2 win at the pre-season title favourites, West Ham. Kuryu Matsuki, James Bree and Lewis Dobbin were all on target in a chaotic first half, while Kyle Walker-Peters and Tomas Soucek replied for the Hammers.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s side would have gone top with a win but instead saw their nine-match unbeaten run halted. There were thousands of empty seats by the end at the London Stadium, with those who stayed booing the Hammers off. Southampton, deducted four points at the start of the season, are now just two points behind West Ham.

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• Belgian won only one of his 14 games in charge

• Relegated Burnley expected to challenge for promotion

Burnley have sacked Nicky Hayen after only 14 games in charge, in the wake of a 4-1 defeat at Lincoln that left the Clarets in the Championship’s relegation zone.

The Belgian was appointed in the summer as the permanent successor to Scott Parker, who left in April with relegation from the Premier League inevitable. He leaves having won just one match, a 4-0 league victory at Watford on 10 October.

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• Mukasa’s first-half goal enough to beat leaders Swansea

• Canaries suffer sixth straight loss; Watford beat Charlton

Nuno Espírito Santo was delighted West Ham finished a “demanding week” by toppling Championship leaders Swansea.

Divine Mukasa’s first-half strike in front of a record Swansea.com Stadium crowd of 20,973 gave the Hammers a 1-0 win and took them into second place and within a point of the league leaders. It was their second success in four days after a 6-0 romp at Lincoln, and ended a week that began with a 1-1 home draw against QPR following Jarrod Bowen’s last-gasp penalty miss.

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The Wolves substitute Tawanda Chirewa struck within seconds of coming off the bench as César Peixoto’s side came from behind to extend Burnley’s home misery at Turf Moor to 21 games without a win.

Chirewa had just replaced Sean Neave in the 72nd minute when Mateus Mané pounced on Igor Julio’s heavy touch and sent the 23-year-old Zimbabwe international through to strike an angled shot, which flew into the net despite Gregoire Coudert getting his hands to the effort.

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• Tomas Soucek rounds off big victory after two reds

• Portsmouth strike late to beat 10-man Sheffield United

West Ham returned to winning ways as they cruised to a 6-0 Championship victory against nine-man Lincoln at the ProAmpac Stadium.

The hosts had Tom Hamer sent off after just three minutes and Conor McGrandles followed him off the pitch 20 minutes later, with Konstantinos Mavropanos heading West Ham ahead on the stroke of half-time.

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• Kick It Out statement: managers should ‘set the tone’

• Head coach said delay in Swansea game ‘killed momentum’

The Millwall head coach, Alex Neil, has been criticised by the anti-racism campaign group Kick It Out after complaining that a stoppage in play over alleged racist abuse “killed the momentum” in Tuesday’s home defeat to Swansea City.

The Championship fixture was suspended for around seven minutes after reports of abusive chants being aimed at the Swansea midfielder Eom Ji-sung. The referee, Edward Duckworth, halted the match in the 65th minute before speaking with both teams’ managers, the fourth official and a safety officer.

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• Ronald’s last-minute winner keeps Welsh side on top

• Middlesbrough edge Stoke in thriller; Watford gloom

Substitute Ronald scored a last-minute winner to keep Swansea top of the Championship after their match at Millwall was held up for almost seven minutes due to a complaint about racist chanting at the Den.

The referee, Edward Duckworth, halted the match in the 65th minute and walked to the dugouts to speak with Lions manager, Alex Neil, Swans counterpart Vítor Matos and fourth official Ruebyn Ricardo.

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• Leaders earn 2-1 home win, Boro beat Wolves 1-0

• Burnley rout Watford; Birmingham edge West Brom

Vítor Matos praised his Swansea side for overcoming a lack of training as they strengthened their position at the top of the Championship with a 2-1 comeback win over Norwich. Second-half goals from Moussa Yeo and the Republic of Ireland striker Adam Idah wiped out Jacob Wright’s strike just before the half-hour mark.

It was the third time Swansea had come from behind this season to win, and, after West Ham’s draw the previous night, it gave them top spot in the table. Idah, though, limped out of the action and could be a doubt for Tuesday’s visit to Millwall.

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The QPR goalkeeper Pierce Charles made a stunning double save from a Jarrod Bowen penalty in stoppage time to secure a 1-1 draw at West Ham. The 21-year-old, who kept four clean sheets and saved a penalty for Northern Ireland over the international break, pulled off more heroics to deny the Hammers top spot in the Championship.

Bowen had already equalised for West Ham, cancelling out a hugely controversial first-half penalty from Nicolas Madsen. But the Hammers captain saw his spot-kick saved and Charles then somehow pushed the rebound from Arne Engels on to the crossbar.

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Verdict has been a long time coming and the Southampton head coach has recaptured hearts and minds at St Mary’s

“Hi Tonda, are you a cheat?” That simple, succinct, question cut to the heart of a matter that has vexed the Football Association all summer. It was posed by the Northern Echo’s Dominic Shaw after Southampton overcame Middlesbrough in the second leg of May’s Championship playoff semi‑final and proved the cue for Tonda Eckert to walk out of his press conference at St Mary’s.

Although Southampton’s manager subsequently admitted to authorising spying on opponents, England’s football authorities struggled to decide what punishment best fitted an act some regard as heinous but which others fail to take seriously. Now, in autumn, we finally have an FA verdict, with Eckert given a six-week ban suspended until the end of the 2027-28 season, a £28,000 fine and a reprimand.

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The Metropolitan police have been granted special powers to tackle violence as the south and east London teams meet again on Saturday after 14 years

Absence has not made the heart grow fonder. Millwall and West Ham meet for the first time in 14 years on Saturday, but it is not going to be a joyous reunion at the Den. The atmosphere will be ferocious and the main hope is that the focus is on the football rather than any nonsense away from the pitch.

These two have plenty of previous, even though they so rarely play each other. The most glaring example is the shocking disorder inside and outside Upton Park when Millwall lost in the second round of the League Cup at West Ham’s old ground in August 2009. A 44-year-old man was stabbed in the chest as trouble raged outside and riot police struggled to maintain order during the game, with play suspended briefly when home supporters invaded the pitch after one West Ham goal.

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