
West Ham’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on Sunday.
It ends West Ham’s 14-year stay in the top flight and leaves them picking up the pieces in the Championship next season.
Here, the Press Association looks at the impact that relegation will have on a club who basked in European glory just three years ago when winning the Conference League.
But there is still a heavy price to be paid for relegation with most estimates putting the crippling cost at over £60million.
West Ham’s wage bill is four times that of the Championship average, so there would have to be some heavy pruning ahead of playing the likes of Lincoln and Preston instead of Arsenal and Manchester City.
Baroness Brady left in April after 16 years as Hammers vice-chair, but the supporters remain and loathe a stadium that has never come close to their hearts as its Upton Park predecessor.
The 68,000-capacity former Olympic Stadium has been dubbed a “soulless bowl’ by fans, and salt has been rubbed into those wounds with the news that London taxpayers may have to pay an extra £2.5m if West Ham are relegated, because of the club’s lease agreement for London Stadium.
Necessary trimming of the wage bill will inevitably lead to departures and club captain Jarrod Bowen, an England international, is one obvious saleable asset.
Midfielder Mateus Fernandes, winger Crysencio Summerville and full-back El Hadji Malick Diouf all have their Premier League admirers.
The Portuguese, who had left Nottingham Forest the previous month, oversaw the bridging of a seven-point gap at the start of January, only for West Ham to fall back into the relegation zone during the closing weeks of the season.
It is unclear whether Nuno would stay around for a Championship campaign, or whether the club would even want him to.
There would seem to be a ready-made replacement in Scott Parker, who spent four years of his playing career at West Ham and has an excellent track record of winning promotion from the Championship.


