Narcis Pelach has quickly returned to work after being fired by Stoke City last month, with the Catalan joining Graham Potter’s backroom team following his move to West Ham United.
Pelach’s first taste of guiding a team in the English game did not go as planned in the Potteries, with only three wins from 19 games in charge of City, bringing his tenure to an end just two days after Christmas.
Having established himself as one of the best coaches in the game prior to his hiring at the bet365 Stadium, the former Norwich City manager appears to be returning to what he does best at the Premier League club, as the Hammers seek to move on from the Julen Lopetegui era.
Some may be surprised by how quickly he has returned to the game, so we asked Football League World’s Stoke fan pundit Sam Harrison what he thinks as the 36-year-old dives right back in at the London Stadium.
Narcis Pelach’s decision at West Ham United was assessed following Stoke City’s firing.
Pelach was named as City manager in September, after the hierarchy opted to end Steven Schumacher’s leadership of the club, despite the former Plymouth Argyle manager starting the season well.
That call soon backfired on the Potters, as a winless streak of nine league games saw him follow his predecessor out the door, with Mark Robins now in charge of the first-team at the former Premier League club.
While his time as a team leader did not go as planned, Pelach’s reputation as someone who goes above and beyond will not have been harmed, giving Harrison confidence that he will do an excellent job in his new role, even if his return to the game was earlier than expected.
When asked about Pelach’s hiring under Potter, the Stoke fan responded: “Am I surprised? Yes and no, if I’m being completely honest.
“The reason I say yes in terms of surprise is because he took the step up to be head coach at Stoke, and it obviously didn’t click, didn’t go well, and he was fired.
“I think it was one where you may wonder why he hadn’t taken the time to reflect on what he had done and how he could improve as a head coach.
“But I’m not shocked because what people say about him shows that he understands a lot about the game, has done a lot of study, and is quite precise in his work.
“I think him being a first-team coach at West Ham is going to provide the detail to what Graham Potter wants, and he is clearly a well-respected person in terms of the people he knows, and I think Graham Potter has got someone that is going to give him a lot of detail in terms of how this West Ham team is performing.”
Narcis Pelach will have learnt a lot from Stoke’s defeat.
Pelach was renowned for his energy and fastidious character prior to his appointment in the Potteries last year, and his expectations of the players he works with are incredibly high.
While other factors will undoubtedly have influenced his tenure in charge of Stoke, those expectations will not have been diminished in any way, and he will most likely have emerged from the situation with plenty of takeaways to build on.
At 36 years old, he still has plenty of time to return to first-team management later in his career, but Harrison believes that working alongside Potter in the top flight is the ideal decision for him right now.
He went on to say, “So, in terms of being surprised, I believe I would be more surprised if he went somewhere else and became their head coach, because he will surely do that again, and is he learning from his mistakes? “So maybe taking a step back and not taking full authority over a team and being a first-team coach, especially at West Ham – who aren’t having the best of times but obviously have a lot of quality – he’ll find that inner detail and the detail he brings to football and tried to bring to Stoke that didn’t work for some reason.
“I think it is fantastic to see that is the direction he has decided to take down, and clearly Stoke doesn’t have to pay him anymore, thus that benefits Stoke City.
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