West Ham United unveil new head coach Graham Potter
09/10/2025
London Stadium, London, UK
09/10/2025
London Stadium, London, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Graham, hi. I see you again and congratulations on becoming the new head coach at West Ham. How excited are you to be back in the club?
00:07Very excited, very proud. Proud day to be head coach, manager of this amazing club.
00:14It's a big tradition, big history, big expectation, big challenge, so I'm really excited. It's almost a bit like Christmas.
00:23Christmas for the adults, you know. Excited, not the best of sleeps last night, but just from excitement.
00:29Really looking forward to meeting the players today, really looking forward to meeting our supporters, getting going. Just brilliant.
00:38It's nearly been two years since you left Chelsea. How many other offers did you have and how close were you to joining other clubs?
00:46It's been 20 months of a good rest, a good break. You can imagine in that time you speak to lots of people, lots of conversations with different owners,
01:01different directors and different things. But it was important that I chose the right option for me at the right time.
01:10As soon as I spoke to this club, it just felt right for me. Felt right, spoke with the board, spoke with everybody connected with the club,
01:18looked at the squad, looked at the academy. This one felt the right one. As I said, I'm really excited to be here.
01:28It's an amazing club with a tremendous, loyal fan base that is passionate, that's knowledgeable, that knows the football,
01:35that knows what they like, knows what they want. I think it's a good fit. As I said, looking forward to getting started.
01:43What can West Ham be under you and what do you need to do?
01:47As I said, it's an amazing tradition here. There's expectation, there's demands, there's a recent history of success.
01:57That's what we want to work towards. It's the first day, so my focus is on meeting the players and trying to prepare for a game
02:06in the third round of the FA Cup against Aston Villa. That's the main focus.
02:09My experience is if you can build a team that is recognisable on the pitch, that the supporters identify with, that the supporters are proud of,
02:21that the supporters enjoy watching. You can get that trust and connection between the players and the supporters.
02:29Everybody's aligned, because that's the key. Everybody being aligned in terms of what we're trying to achieve, how we want to achieve it,
02:36how we want to play football, how we want to use the resources that we have. If that alignment's there, then with that trust and connection,
02:46why put a scene on anything? Let's just go with the journey and be excited about it and go with a smile.
02:52How important was Karen Brady bringing you here? Your friends and former team-mates advised him.
02:58I spoke with Karen as a professional, as a member of the board. She was one of the people I've met and one of the people on the board that I've spoken to.
03:07As I said, everybody I've spoken to on the board, really, really positive. Really impressed with their ambition, with their professionalism,
03:14with their desire for the club, desire for the club to improve, for the desire for us to work together and to be a family and to look after each other
03:25and to go forward with determination and striving for success. As I said, everybody on the board that I've met I've been really impressed with.
03:36Can you talk us through your backroom appointments and will you be happy to attend Stite with the tentacle director,
03:42who's had a difficult relationship with the previous two managers?
03:46Well, I've brought Bruno Salter as assistant head coach, who I've worked with in my previous clubs, certainly in the UK.
03:57Narcis Pelac, who's a really young coach, who's excellent on the grass, excellent with the players.
04:06And obviously Billy Reid, who's my assistant, who's been there for a long time. He's a first-team coach.
04:12So that's the core group. Looking forward to working with the staff here at the club. There'll be lots of talented people, I'm sure.
04:22Part of our approach is to be collaborative, to work together. As I said, we need everybody to be pulling in the same direction.
04:27We need to be aligned, we need to use the resources we have. In the Premier League, there's lots of good players, lots of good coaches, top, top, top everywhere.
04:35So unless you're together, unless you're moving forward together, it becomes very difficult.
04:39So that's going to be the challenge and that's what I'm looking forward to and I'm really excited by it.
04:44And my first impressions for everybody have been really positive.
04:59I don't think there's anything specific. When you've had lots of time to think and you know in your head and you've gone through that process,
05:08sometimes it's a feeling and it's a combination of lots of factors.
05:14As I said, it was the board's ambition, the board's trust and belief in me.
05:20It was looking at the playing squads, it was looking at the academy, the work that Mark Noble does behind the scenes in there.
05:31I think the supporters, as I've said, passionate, knowledgeable, loyal, challenging, all that stuff.
05:41So when you add it all up, it's a massive club. This is a massive club, but it's a family club as well.
05:47So that appeals to me as well. I like that connection, I like that sense of fighting together.
05:55And then when you add all that up, it just made it a good feeling.
06:12Well, when I listen to Pep Guardiola, he says he's got something to prove. If he's got something to prove, then we all have.
06:18It's the reality. In professional sport, on one level you've always got something to prove every day.
06:25It drives you forward. I'm comfortable in my own skin, I'm comfortable with who I am and what I've done.
06:33Clearly, no one's perfect. Life is about taking the successes and accepting the setbacks and accepting the defeats,
06:42and accepting the mistakes, whatever you want to call it, and dealing with it and making you stronger.
06:47That's part of who we are. You guys as journalists will be the same. You won't write everything brilliantly,
06:52and sometimes maybe a piece won't be so good, and you'll reflect on that and go,
06:55OK, maybe I can do something better, it's just how it is. But I think I'm a better person now for the experience,
07:02a better coach for the experience, and well-rested. 12 years of non-stop.
07:08I've been a football coach across three different countries, climbing from the fourth tier to the last eight of the Champions League.
07:14It doesn't come for free, so the breaks have done me good. It gives me the chance to reflect, gives me the chance to think.
07:21And now I'm here, delighted to speak to you.
07:27Graham, Alex mentioned Chelsea. I think you mentioned that one of the difficulties there was the lack of pre-season coming in September.
07:35How much better equipped are you taking over mid-season here?
07:40Like anything, you benefit from experience and going through it. Every context is different, every situation is different.
07:50But certainly having that experience of, OK, you haven't got that preparation time, that's the reality.
07:56You come in and you have to deal with what's ahead of you, and you go into it with open eyes.
08:02But the experience I've had has obviously helped because I'm a bit wiser.
08:07I've had the experience of what it looks like and what it feels like to go in at this time of the year.
08:13So I'll hopefully use that to my advantage.
08:18There's no right or wrong time. There's an ideal time, I guess.
08:21But sometimes when the opportunity comes up, you think, I've got to take it and I want to take it.
08:27I'm really looking forward to meeting the players, really looking forward to starting.
08:32Great week ahead, starting with Aston Villa away in the FA Cup third round. It's brilliant.
08:37You're taking over a team that's conceded two goals every game on average in the Premier League.
08:43How do you balance fixing that with delivering the style of football the club and fans expect and demand?
08:50I think that's the key word you've used, balance.
08:53You can talk about attacking football and style of play, but if you're not balanced, if you're conceding goals like that,
08:59then it becomes very difficult. So balance is the key.
09:03That's how I've always thought about football.
09:05I think, of course, you want to attack and you want to play good football.
09:10But I think, like life, there needs to be some balance, and that's something we'll look to address.
09:17I need to work with the players and find out, OK, learn about them.
09:21But I know quite a lot from the outside, but until you get under the bonnet, you don't know for sure.
09:27But that's what I'm excited about, just to meet them and help them and get to know them and build good relationships and do my best.
09:38Hi, Greg.
09:39Hi, very well.
09:41You said before you want to build trust between the players and the supporters.
09:46Pretty much wherever you've been before, you haven't had to do that, certainly not at Swansea or Brighton.
09:51How are you going to go about doing that here?
09:55I think you always have to build trust. I would sort of disagree.
09:59I think you've got to come in and you've got to, like I said, create a team that the supporters recognise.
10:08And identify with, and that's the process of coaching, that's the process of working.
10:16Obviously, results help, because no matter where you are, results are the best way to convince people that you're on the right path.
10:26So that's something that we've experienced in all my jobs.
10:29I suppose what I'm talking about is when it gets to the point where there's a real trust and connection between the team and the supporters.
10:38Everybody knows what's expected and there's an atmosphere and expectation and a belief.
10:44When I speak about it now, it sounds quite straightforward and easy, but it isn't.
10:51That's where the work is and we need to show as a team what we're about.
10:59We need to show that personality, that togetherness and that fight and that quality.
11:03Because we know the supporters will buy into that and they'll give us everything.
11:06So that's the job. It isn't easy, but that's the exciting thing.
11:11And because of your style of play, the way you teach players, in fact you're a young British manager as well,
11:17literally every time a job's come up in the Premier League, and since you've been out of working jobs,
11:23your name is almost the first one to be linked with it.
11:27Are West Ham lucky to have you? Are you lucky to have West Ham?
11:30Is it going to be a marriage where you're both lucky to have each other?
11:34Well, I consider myself lucky to be here. I'm thankful to be here.
11:40Because I appreciate the club, I appreciate the opportunity.
11:45I apologise that my name has been linked and everybody's flipping sick of Graham Potter linked with this job.
11:53That's life, believe you me.
11:56Part of the 20 months is you reflect on, you witness the rumours that are quite strange,
12:04but there's nothing you can do to control that. That's what it is.
12:08I'm here now, very happy, very proud, very privileged to be here in this position.
12:16So I hope that I can do a good job and the supporters will be positive to me.
12:22I have to say, so far, everything's been great. The support's been brilliant.
12:26Words of encouragement have been really, really touching, so that's nice.
12:31And now it's just to meet them all and crack on.