West Ham relegated and Sunderland qualify for Europe

The Hammers have some quality players. They ought to be odds on favourites to finish top next season, IF they can retain the core of their first team squad.

They do have good players.

But I look at Jarrod Bowen, Taty Castellanos, Crysensio Summerville, Tomas Soucek, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Matheus Fernandes etc and think will they be in the Championship next season? I doubt it.

Already signs that Nuno won't stay so they'll need a new manager too.

The situation with David Sullivan is also a mess.

I thought they borrewed quite big against future earnings and this is the reult of the search


Yes, West Ham United has heavily borrowed against its future earnings.

The club's financial accounts reveal that the board has aggressively used future revenues—specifically Premier League TV broadcasting money and guaranteed installments from past player sales—as collateral to secure immediate cash up front.
The mechanism behind their borrowing and how their recent relegation to the Championship creates a massive financial headache is detailed below.

The £124m Rights and Media Funding Loan.
In July 2025, West Ham took out a massive £124 million, five-year term loan with Rights and Media Funding Limited, immediately drawing down £89 million of it.
The Collateral: This loan was specifically secured against the club’s future Premier League television revenue.

The Relegation Problem:
Because West Ham were just relegated to the Championship, that Premier League TV collateral has effectively vanished. This leaves the club in a position where they either have to completely refinance the massive debt against their new, much smaller Championship parachute payments, or face mandatory prepayments from what remains of their top-flight merit bonuses.

. Upfront "Debt Factoring" on Player SalesWest Ham have also been borrowing against money they haven’t actually received yet from other clubs. In modern football, when a club sells a player, the buying club usually pays the transfer fee in installments over several years.

The Move:
To get liquid cash immediately, West Ham used a practice called debt factoring—essentially selling those future transfer notes to a finance company at a discount (usually giving up 8% to 10% of the value in service fees).

The Reality:
West Ham brought forward £71.7 million in future transfer fees owed to them by other clubs to clear immediate cash-flow hurdles. As a result, while they owe a staggering £192+ million to other clubs for players they bought, they are currently owed a measly £3.9 million in return. They have already spent tomorrow's money.

The Immediate Consequence:
West Ham's financial statements explicitly warned of a "liquidity shortfall in summer 2026." Because they have already borrowed against and spent next season's TV and transfer earnings, they are under immense pressure to raise over £100 million through major player sales (with stars like Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Summerville, and Mateus Fernandes expected to be targeted by top-flight clubs) just to balance the books and avoid breaching financial regulations in the Championship.

Wow, those facts are staggering. Thanks for posting.

Like you, I knew they had a few issues but didn't realise they were that serious.

They can aim to get £100m from player sales but because clubs know they have to sell, they're not in a great bargaining position.