Relegated West Ham a toxic club with a hated owner and unloved stadium

 The anger inside the London Stadium, the fury and the frustration, was summed up by the shocking reaction to the goal that should have given hope that West Ham United could still avoid relegation from the Premier League.

They would eventually win 3-0. Not that it mattered. But the initial cheer when Taty Castellanos, who had wasted a number of chances, finally opened the scoring with a header from a corner was quickly followed by a derogatory chant aimed at West Ham chairman David Sullivan.

And it was not just from a few fans as, they continued to chant towards Sullivan during a drinks break as he sat in the directors’ box.

The chant came up again, both immediately before and after Jarrod Bowen added a second – after being sent clear by Mateus Fernandes, with the captain scoring smartly from a tight angle – and it was followed by another equally vituperous one aimed at the club’s move away from Upton Park and to this unloved stadium, which might now become the biggest of white elephants in the Championship. “Sold our soul for this s--- hole,” they sang. The mood seeped with toxicity.

On the final day, West Ham did what they had to do but it was not enough. It never felt like it would be enough. And the strange atmosphere said it all. They won but the curiously resigned tone of head coach Nuno Espírito Santo in his programme notes had already set the mood.

Nuno talked about how West Ham’s fate was not in their hands. But then he and his team and this club have sleepwalked to their apparent destiny in a monument to bad decisions, wastefulness and complacency. Their fans deserved so much more.

That West Ham went down with 39 points, usually enough to keep a team up, was meaningless even if Nuno kept mentioning it afterwards. It is the highest total since 2011, accrued by Birmingham City, who were relegated with West Ham. But so what?

On this evidence, and the evidence of this season, and the previous season, and the evidence of how the club are run, West Ham are unlikely to do what they did after that relegation 14 years ago, the last time they were demoted: gain immediate promotion to the Premier League (albeit via the play-offs).

Not without wholesale changes. In the squad, in the dugout and maybe in the boardroom. Many players, including Bowen, are likely to go and, the truth is, Nuno should follow them.

West Ham need a reboot, a reset and a reconnection with their fans and not least because they face significant financial difficulties which mean that player sales are unavoidable – even if they had stayed up.

West Ham posted losses of £104m for 2024-25, the worst in the club’s history – a huge £161m deterioration in the bottom line, largely through poor player trading and a drop in revenue.

Those accounts detail a “liquidity shortfall” this summer (thought to be around £150m) for which “mitigating actions will be required” to pay the bills. West Ham are in danger of running out of cash and need to sell players unless the owners invest more. And now they are down.

So far Nuno has escaped blame, but he took over in September and had plenty of time. While West Ham did eventually improve under him, it was too late. Even then, they lost three games in a row before this win while his conservative tactics in too many fixtures have been questioned. As has his man-management.

The damage was done and Nuno is one of those who is culpable, not least with his January signings – Castellanos has done reasonably well but Pablo? Bought for more than £20m, the forward has not scored a goal and was hooked at half-time for Callum Wilson, who Nuno wanted rid of. Adama Traoré has similarly made little impact.

West Ham had previously indicated they wanted the Portuguese to stay, and he successfully managed Wolves in the Championship, but after this, the feeling is increasingly that he might want to leave. And that he can go.

In injury time, Nuno simply sat in his dugout with his head bowed even as Wilson scored a fine third goal, firing in from 20 yards. But then Nuno’s treatment of the centre-forward has been among the many odd decisions at West Ham this season.

Apparently not wanted, the 34-year-old signed a new contract and will be one of the players to stay. And guess what? Wilson has finished as West Ham’s second-best scorer in the league with just seven goals.

This was a relegation three years in the making, traceable to what was the high point of the Sullivan/Gold family/Karren Brady stewardship of the club when, ironically, West Ham won their first trophy in 43 years – the Europa Conference League under David Moyes.

Declan Rice was sold for £105m, the money was poorly spent, the following year Moyes left and West Ham burnt through two other managers, Julen Lopetegui followed by Graham Potter, before Nuno arrived and the spiral continued.

It has been the story of a steady decline and mistake after mistake at a club who finished as high as sixth in 2021. What a fall, what a collective failure, with Bowen articulating what happened.

The hope was it was a “blip”, he said, but instead it was something far more serious. “The fight has been there but we haven’t done enough,” Bowen added.

In the first half, West Ham could not even muster some fight and they were booed off against a Leeds side whose season was already over, having achieved their survival mission.

At the final whistle, most of the West Ham players lay flat on the turf before eventually embarking on a sheepish lap of appreciation, for which the remaining fans applauded them. It looked like those players simply did not quite know what to do. A bit like the rest of this abject failure of a campaign.

Nuno’s position in doubt after relegation

West Ham United will review Nuno Espírito Santo’s position as head coach following their relegation from the Premier League.

After their fate was confirmed, Nuno apologised to the West Ham fans but refused to commit his future to the club.

Telegraph Sport understands that despite the club having previously indicated they would like him to carry on, there is now a strong chance he will leave.

Due to the relegation both sides can terminate Nuno’s contract, which has two years left to run, without the £5m in compensation that would otherwise be due, being paid.

It is understood that Nuno is unsure whether he wants to carry on anyway while there is support at West Ham for the return of their former manager, Slaven Bilic. There is also backing for former Burnley manager – and West Ham captain – Scott Parker but it is unclear whether he would be interested. Strasbourg’s Gary O’Neil has also been monitored.

At the same time, West Ham need to raise around £150m in player sales to balance the books, with captain Jarrod Bowen – despite indicating he would be prepared stay – Mateus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville and Tomas Soucek among those likely to leave.

After the 3-0 win over Leeds United, which was not enough to keep West Ham up, with Tottenham Hotspur also winning, Nuno said: “Especially for the supporters and the respect we have for them it’s not the moment to speak about the future. It’s the moment to apologise to them, to thank them….tomorrow will be a new one [day] and start thinking about the things we have to do.”

Pressed on his future, Nuno continued to insist that it was not the day to discuss whether he would continue at West Ham.

“None of us have had a minute to think about individual futures,” he said, adding his priority had been to “try to stay positive and believe and try and prepared the team and be focussed. Anything with regards to the future, first of all we need to go through this bad moment”.

Nuno insisted the focus should not be about him – “it’s not about me,” he said – and continued: “It’s a moment of deep sadness for all of us at the club. It was a tough day. We had a mission. We lost the privilege of deciding our own future. We lost this privilege. We did our part of the job. But it is a moment of sadness.”

Nuno acknowledged that there will now be debate and discussion over what happens next – for him and the West Ham players. “We have to be ready for many things that will come out in the press. Speculation about us and our future but today is not the day. We are going to solve it together. Today is not the day to make any rash decisions,” he insisted.

When asked about his future and that of Nuno, Bowen said: “It’s still very, very raw. Talking about futures is disrespectful to the club, the fans, everything like that. This club deserves to be in the Premier League. Our aim now is to get this club back into the Premier League.”

In a club statement posted around two hours after their relegation was confirmed, West Ham said it was a “sad and painful moment”.

“The club wishes to sincerely thank every single one of our supporters for the constant and loyal backing they have given, throughout what has been an extremely difficult and disappointing season.

“Ultimately, we have not repaid that support. The plain truth is that we have not been good enough. We must now face the consequences of that failure with honesty, transparency and a determination to repair, refocus and rebuild.”

It added: “The club acknowledges how challenging this season has been and knows it must take steps to restore a sense of pride, faith and belief. As we have done before, we will fight with everything we have to return to the top division of English football at the first time of asking. The hard work to make that goal a reality begins immediately.”