West Ham United 25/26 relegation thread

[muskie]

Odds slashed from 5/1 to 7/2.

Watch this space.

I think we're fucked.

[Massive Attack]

This is so fucking depressing to think about.

Thanks a lot GSB.

[Dick Shaftsbury]

The problem with going down is the stadium. Championship football, with crowds of 30-40k in that soulless bowl, with about 20k being actual West Ham fans scattered about all over the shop, will be horrendous. So many of the old school have fucked it off, they won't come back for Preston at home.

To be honest, if you offered me now the chance to go to a 30,000 football stadium, with a guaranteed 5 years in the Championship as a trade off, I'd bite your hand off. The Prem has become MORIBUND, to quote Lenny.

Didn’t Simon Jordan say a new stadium would cost £3bn

 

 

More than half the clubs in the second tier of German football have better stadiums than us, and it definitely didn't cost them 3bn. 

[Sweep]

A large chunk of this squad is already built for the championship.

Goalkeeper: Hermansen
Defence: Walker-Peters, Mavropanos, Kilman, Casey, Scarles
Midfield: Irving, Potts, Ward-Prowse, Magassa, Fernandes, (Orford/Kante/Fearon)
Forwards: Summerville, Guilherme, Earthy, Marshall, Wilson, Cornet

We might be able to hold Diouf.

Outs Bowen, Paqueta, Rodriguez, Alvarez, Todibo, Fulkrug, Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Igor

[Far Cough UKunt]

[Massive Attack]

At the Boleyn when we were last relegated to the Championship we averaged 30,923 back in 2011.

Now in the Shithole should we go down you can strip out most of the Tourists, most of the Corporates (people fail to mention that key aspect) and most of the loyal support who will without a doubt have had enough of the BS regime.

I honestly cannot see regular attendances being higher than half that of 15,000 for many reasons like boycotting, hating the idea of watching Football in a ghostly bowl. The only possible way you get more than that is if they make a big announcement saying they are finally leaving.

[Sweep]

 

If/when we go down they will just consider closing off the upper tiers (worst seats) as a norm and fill the bottom first 

There will be no need for anyone to have a season ticket unless they insist on having a particular seat/view. 

Many of the Stop/Go twats will lose their jobs.

The only player who'll go who anyone will really miss is Bowen. 

46 games instead of 38 will be more enjoyable. No listening to 'the Sky 6' or whatever they are now.

Many fewer day trippers, tourists and other club's interlopers - sort the wheat from the chaff.

[Massive Attack]

Even though it was my favourite season (i was too young yo remember 85/86) In the 92/93 season we regularly had crowds of less than 14k. Some as little as 10k.

Imagine that in the LS

 

 I reckon we'd get 40k easy. Imagine the novelty of going to watch us and not seeing us lose every week? 

In that Stadium in the Championship with Brady and Sullivan still here, I just cannot see it. 

[Jean-Luc Paul Goddard]

Even though it was my favourite season (i was too young yo remember 85/86) In the 92/93 season we regularly had crowds of less than 14k. Some as little as 10k.

Imagine that in the LS
 

Yeah, but attendances at all clubs have changed a lot since that time. That season we only averaged 16k. Last time we were in that league we averaged almost double that amount, even with Fat Sam in charge.

Last season in the Championship 19 teams had more than 16k. I reckon we'd get 40k easy. Imagine the novelty of going to watch us and not seeing us lose every week? 

[goose]

We must be due another leaked ‘takeover bid’ to keep everyone quiet for a bit.

if we go down I’d offer orient £2.5m a year to ground share instead of paying rent on the bowl. The government could avoid losing money and we get to sell out every week.

[Mad Dog]

Also its taken gsb exactly 10 years to take us from the boleyn ground to the brink of oblivion.

Cunts 

[Mad Dog]

Even though it was my favourite season (i was too young yo remember 85/86) In the 92/93 season we regularly had crowds of less than 14k. Some as little as 10k.

Imagine that in the LS

 

[GBHammer63]

Only1billybonds

If /when we go down we could be proper fucked.  Our finances will be completely shot and we might not be coming back.  We'll start off with 40k at rhe ground which will be awful.  It will tail off until we're getting 25 or even 20k

Teams in the first season especially will love playing us.

I fear we go down, stay down and possibly go down again.

with no actual assets, this could mean the end of the club.  Coventry went down decades ago and almost ceased to exist due to in no small part the similar situation not owning their ground

I honestly think it would be less than 20,000 possibly closer to 10,000. Who the fuck wants to put up with all the shit currently at West Ham inside that hell hole? People would be well justified for turning their backs on that scenario. 

Ironically the first to fuck off will be all the Tourists mostly interested in the Prem/opposition but the loyal diehard support has already left in it's droves with some remaining. We drop however, I can't imagine many snapping up season tickets or caring all that much to go under the circumstances of what's they've done to the Club. The thought of it is horrendous.

The 35k ST holders that have already left did so because they didn’t enjoy the whole West Ham London experience, they are not just going to sit indoors moping about West Ham London and the way it’s run, they will find something else they enjoy doing whether it’s lower league, spending more time with family, whatever.
It’s stupid to assume that the people who have been driven out will just return, they’ve found nicer things to do. The way the 35k have been treated as expendable so long as there’s arses (any) on seats is shameful.

[twoleftfeet]

The problem with going down is the stadium. Championship football, with crowds of 30-40k in that soulless bowl, with about 20k being actual West Ham fans scattered about all over the shop, will be horrendous. So many of the old school have fucked it off, they won't come back for Preston at home.

To be honest, if you offered me now the chance to go to a 30,000 football stadium, with a guaranteed 5 years in the Championship as a trade off, I'd bite your hand off. The Prem has become MORIBUND, to quote Lenny.

Didn’t Simon Jordan say a new stadium would cost £3bn

[Far Cough UKunt]

From playing Fiorentina in a European final to playing Preston Bell End away on a wet Tuesday night. What a fucking massive fall from grace.

CUNTS!

[Massive Attack]

Financially I don’t think it’s as bad as people are making out. Parachute payments will help, and the operating costs of the club are pretty low. 
The wage bill isn’t huge vs other PL teams but will need to be trimmed.

Bowen would obviously be sold, Paqueta would fuck off, we’d probably shift the likes of Fullkrug & Todibo on loan.

one or two seasons wouldn’t be terminal but given how poor our recruitment of staff & players is I wouldn’t have any faith in getting promoted.

 

 

Yep, financially it won't be much of a problem for them. The Clubs finances are very healthy and could take the hit. The Fans however in the stands is where they'll be hit the hardest the longer we could remain there.

[Eerie Decent]

The problem with going down is the stadium. Championship football, with crowds of 30-40k in that soulless bowl, with about 20k being actual West Ham fans scattered about all over the shop, will be horrendous. So many of the old school have fucked it off, they won't come back for Preston at home.

To be honest, if you offered me now the chance to go to a 30,000 football stadium, with a guaranteed 5 years in the Championship as a trade off, I'd bite your hand off. The Prem has become MORIBUND, to quote Lenny.

[Massive Attack]

Only1billybonds

If /when we go down we could be proper fucked.  Our finances will be completely shot and we might not be coming back.  We'll start off with 40k at rhe ground which will be awful.  It will tail off until we're getting 25 or even 20k

Teams in the first season especially will love playing us.

I fear we go down, stay down and possibly go down again.

with no actual assets, this could mean the end of the club.  Coventry went down decades ago and almost ceased to exist due to in no small part the similar situation not owning their ground

I honestly think it would be less than 20,000 possibly closer to 10,000. Who the fuck wants to put up with all the shit currently at West Ham inside that hell hole? People would be well justified for turning their backs on that scenario. 

Ironically the first to fuck off will be all the Tourists mostly interested in the Prem/opposition but the loyal diehard support has already left in it's droves with some remaining. We drop however, I can't imagine many snapping up season tickets or caring all that much to go under the circumstances of what's they've done to the Club. The thought of it is horrendous.

[goose]

Financially I don’t think it’s as bad as people are making out. Parachute payments will help, and the operating costs of the club are pretty low. 
The wage bill isn’t huge vs other PL teams but will need to be trimmed.

Bowen would obviously be sold, Paqueta would fuck off, we’d probably shift the likes of Fullkrug & Todibo on loan.

one or two seasons wouldn’t be terminal but given how poor our recruitment of staff & players is I wouldn’t have any faith in getting promoted.

[Come On You Irons]

nyc.

My point is,what is to fear about relegation? I know it sounds daft but really,what is so special about the premier league from a purely football fans point of view?  So many of us have for years belived that being in the top tier is everything but its all bollox. Sure, thats where the big money is but so what? Look at our club, supposedly in the top 20 of money makers in the game but that means nothing, the overriding feeling among fans is one of misery and its been this way for a while now. Maybe its me but I really don't care in what league we are playing, we'll still be West Ham and the fans love for the cub wont be diminished because we aren't up there with the so called elites. Fuck the elites and fuck the premier league!

 

 

This is a good philosophical point. I suppose the point of being in the top flight is to compete and progress as a football club. The likes of the "three Bs" (Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton) have done this, and Crystal Palace and Newcastle have done this and won their first ever trophy and first trophy for decades respectively. They both ended their trophy droughts whilst we plod along and and now gone 45 years and counting without winning a major domestic trophy.

Of course the above all comes down to one thing. Ownership. All of those five teams above have good, progressive, decent owners and all five club have outperformed us in recent seasons (our win of the third rate European trophy aside).

All are the antithesis of West Ham London since 2010 with WHL being part owned, chaired and controlled by a dodgy former porn baron who's clear MO is to just spend enough to keep the club on the Premier League gravy train and finish at least 17th every season.

There is no more ambition than that. The man is a cancer on the club and a spiv and a liar. He deserves relegation much more than the long suffering core support does.

[Mad Dog]

Only1billybonds

If /when we go down we could be proper fucked.  Our finances will be completely shot and we might not be coming back.  We'll start off with 40k at rhe ground which will be awful.  It will tail off until we're getting 25 or even 20k

Teams in the first season especially will love playing us.

I fear we go down, stay down and possibly go down again.

with no actual assets, this could mean the end of the club.  Coventry went down decades ago and almost ceased to exist due to in no small part the similar situation not owning their ground

[Massive Attack]

Given a choice between all  the razmatazz bollox on offer in the premier league or the more honesty and grit championship football, I know where I'd rather be. Owners want the financial rewards of the prem, football fans will stand by their club regardless of what level they're playing at. Relegation isn't to be feared, if and when it happens, its to be embraced

Not in that Stadium, my friend. It's horrific enough whilst in the Prem let alone the thought of it in the lower divisions....

[nychammer]

nyc.

My point is,what is to fear about relegation? I know it sounds daft but really,what is so special about the premier league from a purely football fans point of view?  So many of us have for years belived that being in the top tier is everything but its all bollox. Sure, thats where the big money is but so what? Look at our club, supposedly in the top 20 of money makers in the game but that means nothing, the overriding feeling among fans is one of misery and its been this way for a while now. Maybe its me but I really don't care in what league we are playing, we'll still be West Ham and the fans love for the cub wont be diminished because we aren't up there with the so called elites. Fuck the elites and fuck the premier league!

I agree with much of what you say regarding not having to be top tier, so long as the match day experience is still largely the same, which at the Boleyn it would have been, but it just wont be in an oversized soulless athletics stadium. Saying that, I left the UK a 15 yrs ago and have only been to LS once since, but was a STH at UP for many years, so maybe I'm wrong.  I do think the away days will be a lot of fun, so there's that at least!!

[only1billybonds]

nyc.

My point is,what is to fear about relegation? I know it sounds daft but really,what is so special about the premier league from a purely football fans point of view?  So many of us have for years belived that being in the top tier is everything but its all bollox. Sure, thats where the big money is but so what? Look at our club, supposedly in the top 20 of money makers in the game but that means nothing, the overriding feeling among fans is one of misery and its been this way for a while now. Maybe its me but I really don't care in what league we are playing, we'll still be West Ham and the fans love for the cub wont be diminished because we aren't up there with the so called elites. Fuck the elites and fuck the premier league!

[nychammer]

Given a choice between all  the razmatazz bollox on offer in the premier league or the more honesty and grit championship football, I know where I'd rather be. Owners want the financial rewards of the prem, football fans will stand by their club regardless of what level they're playing at. Relegation isn't to be feared, if and when it happens, its to be embraced

Would be ok if we have Upton Park, but do you really want to embrace watching us get beat every week in the half empty bowl because it’s as about as intimidating as Mary poppins? I get the decent away days etc but at “home” for what’s left of  the majority it’s going to be fucking shit. 

There’s no “core” of this side that can propel us back. We’re properly poor. The very worst case is coming home to roost. I think if we go down then we go down for a while.

[only1billybonds]

Given a choice between all  the razmatazz bollox on offer in the premier league or the more honesty and grit championship football, I know where I'd rather be. Owners want the financial rewards of the prem, football fans will stand by their club regardless of what level they're playing at. Relegation isn't to be feared, if and when it happens, its to be embraced