A leading football finance expert has made a new £196m revelation about West Ham’s finances which will ramp up the pressure on the club’s under-fire board.
Hammers fans have been protesting all season to try and force the club’s board out.
West Ham majority owner David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady have been the primary targets of supporters’ ire, but the club’s second biggest stakeholder Daniel Kretinsky has also been heavily criticised.
The rapid regression at the London Stadium in the last two years has seen fan anger bubble back to the surface, especially since the owners announced club record £104m losses in their latest accounts.
After £104m losses, only five clubs owe more money than West Ham in unpaid transfer fees
Further losses are forecast for next set of accounts and West Ham, despite the best efforts of Nuno Espirito Santo and his players, are still in grave danger of being relegated.
Falling off the Premier League gravy train doesn’t bear thinking about given the financial landscape at the club.
Would you take relegation if it meant that David Sullivan would leave?! 🤔
Not a nice position to be in – but what would YOU choose if you had to?
David Sullivan takes in a West Ham match from the directors' box
Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images
But, somehow, things look almost certain to get even worse.
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That’s after prominent football finance expert Kieran Maguire made a new £196m West Ham revelation that turns up the heat on club’s under-fire board.
West Ham fans protest with a banner targeting David Sullivan and Karren Brady
Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images
West Ham have made their stance clear on a player fire sale this summer after the record losses.
That now seems inevitable even if the Hammers manage to stay in the Premier League.
Because Maguire has revealed that only five clubs owe more money in unpaid transfer fees than West Ham United.
According to The Price of Football author Maguire, West Ham owe a staggering £196m in unpaid instalments on transfer fees as per their most recent accounts.
Only Arsenal (£211m), Spurs (£337m), Man United (£404m), Man City (£423m) and Chelsea (£503m) owe more than the Hammers.
Maguire: West Ham owe £196m in unpaid transfer instalments
That will surely mean the Hammers simply have to sell key players in the summer to pay down debt and money owed to other clubs.
Several clubs who have been named as being potentially at risk of breaching financial rules – such as Aston Villa and Forest – owe less than West Ham in unpaid transfer instalments.
This is shocking! 😰 Relegation is going to be dire for West Ham…
What would YOU do to avoid this mess?
West Ham owner David Sullivan
Maguire’s revelation comes after West Ham confirmed a complete change of stance over their ambitions almost 10 years on from the controversial move to the London Stadium, which was sold as a necessity to be able to compete with the top clubs in the Premier League.
Now the Hammers are certainly rubbing shoulders with the top clubs – but for all the wrong reasons as they sit in the “Big Six” when it comes to money they owe to other clubs.
The board could argue that the staggering amount owed proves they have been willing to spend money on signings.
But against the backdrop of the terrible state of the club’s finances, that could also be seen as irresponsible spending.
So this will undoubtedly pile more pressure on Sullivan, Brady, Kretinsky and the board.
And it seems increasingly that only fresh investment in the club from ambitious new owners, or a glut of player sales, can bridge the widening gap in West Ham’s finances.
It was just last month that Maguire revealed West Ham’s £104m losses were officially the worst in Premier League history until Chelsea filed theirs surpassing the £300m mark.
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