Simon Jordan has questioned West Ham’s move for Scott Parker, insisting the former Hammers midfielder “has proven that he can’t manage in the Premier League”.
Parker is expected to replace Nuno Espírito Santo, who was sacked on Tuesday morning, with The Athletic reporting that a deal is in place between the club and the coach.
Nuno paid the price for a stuttering start to West Ham’s bid to bounce straight back to the top flight, with the Hammers eighth in the Championship after back-to-back home defeats by Southampton and West Brom.
But Jordan believes the club have overreacted – and he has serious doubts about the man tipped to take over.
“The interesting thing with Scott Parker is he has proven that he can’t manage in the Premier League,” he said on talkSPORT.
“With respect to him, I don’t mean to be mean-spirited, but he went up with Fulham, couldn’t do it.
“Went up with Bournemouth, got himself out the door before he had a chance to put his feet under the table in the Premier League because he was too busy being childish about what he didn’t get.”
Jordan did concede that Parker, a former West Ham player, has shown he can get teams out of the Championship, adding: “He will do a job.”
But the former Crystal Palace owner could not see the crisis that warranted Nuno’s exit, with West Ham only six points off top spot after 13 games.
“It doesn’t feel that the problem is that deep that it needs to have surgical intervention,” he said.
“You know, open heart surgery. You take a manager out, that’s what you’re doing.”
talkSPORT understand joint chairman Daniel Kretinsky made the final call to sack Nuno.
Mark Noble, Steve Potts and Gerard Prenderville are in temporary charge for Wednesday night’s trip to Cardiff City.
Watch Simon Jordan’s full reaction on talkSPORT: