When Daniel Kretinsky decided to sack Nuno Espirito Santo and almost instantly replace him with Scott Parker, it was for one reason and one reason only: to get West Ham winning games again.

Yet former Hammers vice-chair Karren Brady appears to have a rather different idea of what the new manager’s priorities should be.

Brady’s verdict on Scott Parker misses the point

In her latest column, Brady suggested Scott Parker’s first job is not to teach West Ham how to win, but to remind them they are capable of fighting.

Yes, West Ham fans, you did read that correctly.

It is a remarkable assessment of a club whose biggest problem this season has been its inability to consistently outplay and beat teams it should be competing with.

West Ham have made it clear Parker’s record of three promotions from the Championship was the number one reason he was brought in to rescue the club’s ailing bid to get straight back to the Premier League.

Winning games is always the priority for any football club, but levels of expectation differ depending on circumstances.

In the Premier League, West Ham fans don’t expect to win every week. In the Championship, they most certainly do. And so does the ownership, given promotion is worth an estimated £150-200m to the club.

Under David Moyes, winning more often than not – or at least being competitive in most games – became a given for several years.

Now, however, the Hammers have fallen from European trophy winners to mid-table in the Championship, and Brady’s comments do little to reassure supporters that the people who previously ran the club understand how badly things have gone wrong.

Scott Parker was brought to West Ham to win

Brady wrote in her column in The Sun:

“Sometimes a manager’s first job is not to teach a team how to win. It is to remind them that they are capable of fighting. West Ham have spent enough time looking backwards.

“Parker has come home and needs to take them forwards again.”

That is nothing more than mealy-mouthed nonsense from the former vice-chair.

This is the person who was responsible for selecting and hiring both Graham Potter and Nuno.

If getting West Ham back winning regularly again was not the number one priority when Brady sat in meetings with both men, then is it any wonder the club have hit what is – on paper at least – a 21-year low?

Her point makes little sense.

West Ham had already shown plenty of fight this season, staging comebacks against the likes of Bolton, Millwall, Watford, QPR. Even in the second half of last season the Hammers showed plenty of fight. The problem was not necessarily a lack of commitment or desire. It was the team’s inability to turn those performances into consistent results.

When Daniel Kretinsky made the decision to sack Nuno Espirito Santo, West Ham were being outplayed by supposedly lesser teams on their own patch. Tactical shortcomings, poor performances and a failure to impose themselves on games were costing the club valuable points.

Winning most weeks – the key requirement to achieve automatic promotion – is why Parker was appointed. His three promotions from the Championship were not simply a nice addition to his CV. They were the central reason West Ham turned to him.

The Hammers need a manager who knows how to organise a team, win matches and deliver promotion. They do not need someone whose primary task is to convince players they are capable of fighting.

And what exactly does Brady mean when she says West Ham have spent enough time looking backwards?

It is a particularly strange comment from someone who played an increasingly influential role in the club’s big decisions during her time as vice-chair, including managerial appointments and transfer negotiations.

Line up 100 West Ham fans and you would struggle to find many who do not believe the old regime are to blame for the club’s current predicament.

That includes Brady, who was central to the day-to-day running of West Ham for much of the previous 16-and-a-half years, as well as co-owners Kretinsky and David Sullivan.

Of course, the responsibility for the club’s decline from European champions to midtable in the Championship cannot be placed at the feet of one individual. But Brady cannot distance herself from West Ham’s current situation and talk in riddles about it, particularly when she is now offering opinions on what needs to happen next.

Scott Parker has been brought in to get West Ham winning. Nothing more, nothing less, while they remain in the Championship.

Any suggestion that this is somehow secondary to restoring a fighting spirit is not worth the tabloid paper it is written on.