West Ham’s team were relegated in the 2002/03 season and were labeled as “too good to be relegated”. No one said that about this group.
They sit at the bottom of the Premier League, seven points clear of safety, and the threat of a return to the Championship for the first time in 14 years is suddenly becoming more realistic.
That’s an astonishing gap for a team that has gone 10 games without a win in the Premier League this season, picking up three points just three times.
Last weekend’s break from league action provided a welcome respite as West Ham beat QPR 2-1 to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup.
With a confident fan base on the floor and ready for a revolt, and fears of relegation mounting less than three years after winning a European trophy, some may wonder how this could have happened.
But West Ham’s decline is no surprise.
There is a saying in the soccer world: “Sleepwalking toward relegation.” But West Ham fans have been clamoring for years to pull their beloved club out of dangerous limbo.
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A statement released by fan group Hammers United in September said: “The club is in serious decline and is slowly dying.”
West Ham’s Fans Advisory Committee, which represents 25,000 supporters, issued a motion of no confidence in the committee earlier this season, with chair David Sullivan and vice-chair Karen Brady at the center of much of the ire.
Some matches were boycotted and large protests were held ahead of others. However, the only change going forward appears to be West Ham’s league status.
For many fans, the underlying dissatisfaction dates back to 2016, when the club left Upton Park for the London Stadium. Among some supporters, this is seen as a core mistake by the owners, who traded the history and soul of the club’s iconic home for a financial fix unbecoming of the footballing experience.
But the old Olympic Stadium is only part of the problem. Yes, there are flaws, but it was a special night that set us up for conference league success in 2023.
Since then, many drawbacks have arisen.
Supporters’ organizations highlighted David Moyes’ failure to build on the win and costly failures in the transfer market, as well as problems with matchday experience.
On the defensive side, it can be pointed out that the club is spending a lot of money on new players. It is worth noting that West Ham have spent £1bn on signings since moving to the London Stadium in the summer of 2016.
Only the so-called big six are spending more.
Each of the 12 signings at the time cost more than £30 million, but Lucas Paqueta and Mohamed Kudus are probably the only ones who can be considered successful at that price.
Kudus, who was sold to Spurs for a profit of around £17m last summer, was one of five first-team new players acquired in Declan Rice’s £105m transfer to Arsenal. But in discussions with supporters, the focus is often on the 12-month splurge.
Technical director Tim Steiten has been brought in to manage West Ham’s transactions from the summer of 2023. The following year, Max Kilman (£40m), Jean-Clair Todibo (on loan, then £35m), Niklas Flukrug (£27.5m), Luis Guilherme (£25m) and Crisencio Somerville (£25m) were among the well-received players to arrive.
The suggestion that West Ham ‘won’ that spot has now been revised.
As for Steiten, Moyes ultimately asked him to stay away from the training ground, but after the Scot’s departure, his success in revolutionizing West Ham’s playing style and approach in the post-Moyes era was summed up by Julen Lopetegui, who also had a falling out with the German.
In January 2025, Graham Potter chose to bring in his own head of recruitment, Kyle MacAulay. Mr. Steiten left the company in February 2025, and Mr. Macaulay left the company in October, shortly after Mr. Potter.
It’s easy to see that the club’s recruitment process didn’t go as well as expected.
West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo (centre) with new signings Tati Castellanos (right) and Pablo (left). Photo: West Ham United FC
Now, the hope of survival rests in the hands of Pablo and Tati Castellanos. The two forwards have not been tested in the Premier League, but their arrival looks to shorten the contract signed by experienced Callum Wilson in June.
Despite such disconnects and changes, clubs can reasonably argue that they have signed players who are desired by others and who have a positive reputation.
So, as with another club with United’s crown in the Premier League, is the issue the quality of the players or just the environment they are playing in?
Should Lopetegui, Potter and now Nuno Espirito Santo expect better performances from the players they put out on the pitch?
The comments from Tomas Soucek, West Ham’s undisputed leader, came during a guest appearance on the club’s official podcast in December. “We… have to give our maximum effort everywhere, even in (training) sessions.
“Sometimes it’s very good, sometimes it’s not so perfect. But we have to maintain a consistently high level so you can perform. I don’t like it when some players don’t practice hard, and you have to tell them.”
With the club’s place in the Premier League at stake, the image of players not giving 100 per cent in every training session is not a welcome one for supporters, but perhaps linked to their performance on matchdays.
West Ham United players react after conceding third goal against Wolves
Similarly, after captain Jarrod Bowen revealed there had been player-only checks following the last home humiliation against Fulham and praised his team for their performance in the recent draw with Brighton, supporters may be wondering why it took them until December 30 to confirm their intentions.
Lucas Paqueta’s unseemly and unrelenting abuse that led to his red card against Liverpool was the wrong kind of flare-up. But where do his teammates separate him from the onslaught of attacks on the referee that only go one way? Was the playmaker suspended as the sending off deprived the team of any chance of scoring a late goal and getting a result against their then-struggling visiting opponents?
Finally, how important a factor is the head coach move, or the suitability of the head coach for the job at West Ham?
Lopetegui, Potter and Nuno, like many of the signings, arrived in east London with notable CVs, but their reputations have since suffered.
They have overseen the performance of a West Ham side that has been error-prone wide open at the back, vulnerable to set pieces, unable to break through the lines and lack the leg power to win the ball back, and relying almost entirely on Bowen in attack, who could be set up for England at the World Cup this summer and then a season in the Championship.
He is not the first West Ham England player to face relegation. David James, Michael Carrick, Trevor Sinclair, Jermain Defoe and Joe Cole know it all too well.
West Ham will need a tremendous turnaround if they are to arrest their slide and avoid falling out of the top spot again.
