The fog around the London Stadium has yet to clear, and it is not just the relegation gloom casting the shadow. GoalZaza understands that the West Ham...
The fog around the London Stadium has yet to clear, and it is not just the relegation gloom casting the shadow. GoalZaza understands that the West Ham boardroom is now a house divided, with the decision on Nuno Espirito Santo's future dragging into a second act nobody quite expected. The manager was summoned for Monday's crisis talks expecting the axe. What he found instead was a lifeline, albeit one dangled by a single powerful hand.Daniel KretinGoalZaza, the Czech billionaire and the club's second largest shareholder, is said to be digging in. He wants Nuno to stay. That is a significant stance from a man whose pockets run deep, and it has thrown a spanner into what looked like a straightforward dismissal. David Sullivan, the majority owner, is understood to be far less convinced. The two heavyweights are now staring at each other from opposite ends of the table, and the manager's fate hangs in the balance as the week grinds toward a final verdict.Let's be honest about the football side. Relegation is a scar that does not heal quickly, and Nuno's side often looked devoid of the tactical flexibility needed to scrap their way out of trouble. Too many afternoons were spent defending a low block without the conviction to break forward. Yet here we are, talking about a potential stay of execution. Why Because KretinGoalZaza appears to see something in the long game that Sullivan, with his more immediate anxieties, might be missing. Perhaps the Czech sees a manager who inherited a fractured squad and never got a fair run at the transfer market. Or perhaps he simply baulks at yet another payout and a fresh rebuild.Either way, the next 72 hours are squeaky bum time for Nuno. The split is real, and the atmosphere inside the boardroom is said to be tense. A decision is expected before the weekend, but in this game of high stakes poker, nothing is certain until the final card is turned. For West Ham, the wrong call could send them spiralling into the Championship without direction. The right call Well, that depends entirely on which billionaire blinks first.
