By Sean Whetstone
There’s a Hammers horror in the making as the club sinks further and further towards the bottom three.
Hundreds of millions could be slashed off West Ham’s valuation if they are relegated which is down to whether there are three clubs worse than us as things stand.
The Hammers published a record-breaking turnover of £253m last week, with pre-tax profits of £12m and no net debt.
The Irons will need to rely on parachute payments with ticket revenue, commercial revenue and retail at least halved if relegated.
In the first year of the Championship, West Ham would receive 55% of the equal share worth around £40m, which reduces to 45% or £35m in the second season and 20% or £15m
With a wage bill of £135m last year, the club would need to sell players and drastically reduce the wage bill while remaining competitive to get promoted again.
Potential buyers would probably subtract as much as £300m from the Premier League sale price, often touted as high as £800m for the Hammers.
At a £500m price tag, the current owners would most likely inject new cash in the form of shareholders’ loans to get back to a Premier League price tag as soon as possible.
That will likely cost a lot less than the £300m price drop they could face for selling a Championship club.
Let’s look on the bright side. More than twenty games left, More than sixty points to play for. We are not getting relegated.