West Ham facing ‘30,000 empty seats’ after ‘disastrous’ twist
West Ham have suffered another crushing blow in their bid to avoid relegation from the Premier League this season.
West Ham were beaten 2-1 by Nottingham Forest at the London Stadium on Tuesday (6 January), leaving them seven points from safety.
It comes after West Ham lost 3-0 against bottom side Wolves, who hadn’t won a Premier League game all season.
Nuno Espirito Santo is fighting for his job at the London Stadium, having failed to turn the Hammers’ fortunes around since arriving in east London in September.
How could relegation impact West Ham’s financial situation?
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider relegation would be “disastrous” for a club like West Ham.
It has been revealed West Ham could lose more than £60m in revenue if they are unable to avoid the drop this season.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “One thing’s for sure, the relegation would be pretty disastrous, right? They’re a club that’s set up for Premier League.
“It’s got a 60,000 stadium. That stadium’s not going to look good with 30,000 empty seats. I think we can assume that it would have something in that order.
“I think the lack of momentum there would lead to a lot of empty seats and their gate revenue would come down dramatically in the Championship.”
West Ham are already facing questions about their finances after it was revealed they could be set to announce a £100m loss in their 2024-25 accounts.
West Ham stars could have huge relegation clauses
Borson suggested West Ham could have significant relegation clauses in their players’ contracts to better prepare them for the Championship.
“I would expect them to have this, but the key question would be what do they have in their contracts in terms of relegation clauses?” said Borson.
“Do they have this sort of 50 per cent relegation clause that a lot of clubs have in the Premier League, which really insulates you if you do get relegated from your biggest cost base? If they do, then they’ll be just about okay.
“They do have a few player assets that they could trade on. There’s maybe not players with big profits there, but there are definitely players that they could bring in cash for.
“Look, I think the Wolves situation is much more hopeful upon relegation than West Ham. West Ham are set up for the Premier League, so it would be a big issue.”
West Ham now have a break from Premier League action, with an FA Cup third-round tie against QPR coming up on Sunday (11 January).
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