The Palace defeat lit the fuse. From then on, Potter’s face has been plastered onto everything from sitcom icons Del Boy and Rodney to the Chuckle Brothers. In one of the cruellest edits, supporters even swapped him onto the body of co-owner David Sullivan’s fiancee, Ampika Pickston, herself embroiled in a messy spat with fans online.
Potter has admitted that he’s seen the memes and even revealed his teenage son found them hilarious.
“It made my 15-year-old son laugh a lot,” he told reporters. “You have to accept what comes with it. In part it’s criticism, it’s at times ridicule, but that’s the environment we’re in…I’ve got a few more things to think about than that.”
Despite the humiliation, the board have so far resisted pulling the trigger. A gap of nine days before the Hammers’ next clash, a daunting away trip to David Moyes’ Everton, seemed the perfect time for change. But club insiders suggest the hierarchy is reluctant to hand a new boss two nightmare fixtures right off the bat, with Everton and Arsenal looming before the October international break. That might just buy Potter a stay of execution, but few believe it will stretch beyond those two games.
Nuno Espirito Santo, recently dismissed by Nottingham Forest, is already being touted as the frontrunner. Slaven Bilic, Kieran McKenna, Scott Parker, Sean Dyche and Gary O’Neil have all been linked as well. The shortlist is a clear sign West Ham‘s owners are bracing for life after Potter, and it’s simply a question of when, not if.
While Potter may chuckle publicly about memes, deep down, he’ll know the laughter masks something darker: he has lost the crowd. And once West Ham’s famously unforgiving support turns a manager into a punchline, history shows there’s no way back. Memes might have made his son laugh, but for Potter, they could prove the final nail in his coffin at the London Stadium.
