What a knob! Don't big yourself up - nobody will miss you. If you love relegation so much then we'll just have even greater delight watching you fall further down & hopefully out of your pitiful existence!

I felt like this when Coventry went down in 2001. 10 years of Championship football later, the novelty has worn off.

Yeah, you're right Matt. Bigging us up is exactly what I'm doing in this piece. I feel a right knob.

I fear for West Ham they are a premiership team but then so are Leeds and Forest, I do hope they are the 3 to come up and the Stokes, Wigans, West Broms and Blackpools disappear. I think you have to look at Newcastle as motivation, but then they held onto Nolan, Barton, Guiteerez, Enrique, Carroll, Colloccini, Taylor etc. I think the owners coming out saying it is a catastrophe financially means you will lose Parker, Hitzelsperger, and Ba as they are the only ones who will fetch money. Cole, Boa Morte, Dyer, Faubert, Upson, Spector, Keane, Kovac etc will be let go or released which is great I feel if you can hold onto Piquonne, Noble, Tomkins, Ilunga, Hines, Stanislas, Nouble, Da Costa, Green and Sears you will be ok the right mix of youth and experience

I think you're right Jamie. We will either do a Newcastle or do a Leeds/Sheffield Wednesday. Largely depends on what manager we appoint.

Newcastle went back up purely because pantomime villain Mike Ashley, who might only exist to make Sullivan and Gold look like upstanding citizens, couldn't offload our higher earners, and why would they leave? Most of them journeymen on gazoongas(Alan Smith etc ...) it certainly wasn't down to any kind of guilt of going down/loyalty as some of them pretended, they're footballers remember. My major concern I have about West Ham going down is that Pardew will sign Carlton Cole. I feels it in my bones.

Olympic Stadium may be massive error of judgement..???

Maybe. OS was never universally popular among Hammers. At least selling UP might stop us going bankrupt.

I hope West Ham, their horrible racist fans and grotesque dildo salesman owners are never seen in the Premiership ever again.

Keep your fingers and toes crossed Dan and your wish may come true.

It'll be interesting to see if the author of this article is quite so chirpy when the 'Appy 'Ammers have to go into administration and take a massive points deduction. The club is on the point of implosion and has been for quite some time, unpaid debts on the two new stands hang around their necks like a millstone and getting relegated and losing £50 million plus in Premier League money is not going to help things. The move to the Olympic Stadium might help if they can sell the Boleyn for big money but it might all be too little too late. If West Ham fans thought the player exodus from their last relegation team was bad they ain't seen nothing yet, although Parker and Ba apart, I'm not sure who else is going to bring them in any money.

Why is it that West Ham fans insist everyone else loves them and their club? They're delusional if they do. The fans are racist and often violent, their club was shown to have both cheated and lied their way out of relegation in the Tevezgate affair, and the Dildo Bros and Miss Piggy recenyly tried to sign Martin O Neil behind Avram Grants back only to then ask to be allowed the use a room at Wigan on Sunday to sack him before the echoes of the final whistle had finshed resounding. Class. Grant is well shot of them if you ask me. When the chips are up you can't get away from their fan's howls of delight and derision of others, but as soon as they're down they revert to this self-deprictacting mode perfectly illustrated above in what is admittedly a well written piece. As if saying "Oh look at us, we're only poor little West Ham who every one loves as we're harmless." What they do have is an inferiority complex which is richly justified in my opinion and a spell in th elower division again is just what the doctor ordered.

At least we got relegated when we did & not this upcoming sunday while we would still be clinging onto the impossible dream. My nerves couldnt take that.

Jamie -"they are a premiership team but then so are Leeds and Forest" Please try and understand this - NO THEY ARE NOT! West Ham were relegated on Sunday, Forest failed in the playoffs and Leeds didnt even get there. There is no automatic place in the Premier League for teams who think that they should be there beca because they have a large following or a "history". Its won on merit. I'm a Wigan fan, and we may be relegated next week but at no point over the last 6 years have I EVER considered it a RIGHT that we were in the Premier League.I loved it - if we arent good enough to stay up then so be it but the ONLY criteria for staying in once you get there is how many points you have at the end of the season- nothing else. Points arent awarded for fan loyalty/size of fanbase/we deserve it more than you because.....

Blimey Dave. I'm only trying to look on the bright side. Sorry.

Mark: You're a Wigan fan, that explains your viewpoint. You're a League 2 team, it's natural you would fight this point of view.

Sam, I couldn't agree more. Maybe we understand that the Premiership isn't the be all and end all of football - just like Leeds fans. West Ham fans, real ones, understand that we are a yo-yo club, we know we don't have a divine right to be in the top division. We know we are in deep shit, but that's the fun of it all. We know we will get rid of most the mercenaries that got us in this position, we know we owe shit loads of money, we know not many people like us and we know we don't care what other people think of us. Sure, most of don't 'love' relegation but we know it happens - in our case regularly!

Spot on Andy.

Twat of a ground to get to, so I'm made up they're gone.

Nick - not yet we arent - despite what some people wish!

Tom, you were never invited so bollocks to you.

As a Newcastle fan I enjoyed the season when we went down, away tickets reasonaly priced meant some some good away days and other teams will bring large supports making the whole "match day" experience much more what it used to be.

Andy, don't be tough on Tom. For some people getting on the district line is confusing and troublesome.

Just take it on the chin boys and cum an av a larf down at Millwall next year - both games will be proper - I aint into slating ya - you've been kicked in the gonads this year so enjoy ya selves in the championship - theres fun all round the country in this division - happy days

Fair point Sam. Sorry Tom,. Let's hope you'll find the Olympic Stadium far more suitable for your needs, oh and you'll have lots of seats to choose from too!

Andy-Spot on. Just wish others would just admit it. You are however a proper club with good support for your team and if it were to be judged on that alone and not points, then you should be in the top flight alongside the likes of Forest, Leeds, Sheff Wed et al. But as the man before said-it is'nt and Tom there are far worse believe me starting with Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Nice one Sam. I've also seen our boys relegated 4 times now and am perversely looking forward to the change of scenery in the Championship. We're likely to take some beatings as we did lats time (Rotherham was miserable) but I'm looking forward to seeing us play at our level and looking forward to Millwall and Leeds. We'll be back, but not sure we'll be back as early as next year and frankly I don't really mind.

Don't you just feel matts vitriol. Now I wonder what team he could support to bring forth such venom. Could it possibly be the one that thinks its such a big team despite winning so very little for 40+ years?

Who's that Spy? Man City? Other than Sat not won athing since 1969 I think it was.

i'm a spurs fan but I still feel sorry for them, couldn't stop laughing at blokes here calling whu's fans "violent and racist" and the owners "dildo-salesmen"...fuckin hell, people, if we're gonna start talkin about owners, i suppose we'd be discussing for hours and hours...we've been experiencing everything in this bloody league: Yank cunts who know fuck all bout football?Check...Filthy rich Sheiks?Check...Shady indian geezers selling chickens who, although owning a club on its knees, go for players like Ronaldinho?Check...Russian millionaires?Check. This is football, if the fact that the most important league in the world attracts "strange people" (and,yes,knobheads)hurts your feelings, change sport...

Well said ADV

Jeez this getting surreal! I agree with a Spurs fan. ADV is so, so right.

I've watched football all over the country for over thirty years and I'm sorry to have to tell you, yes, there is something different about West Ham. Those that where there when we lost to Forest in the FA Cup semis know... we've seen it all, and experienced it all from crushing defeats against Oldham, Blackburn, Everton, Manure & Liverpool (every year... but we still go... how long since we won there?), three goal reversals against WBA & Wimbledon, the bond scheme, 'Brown Out' campaign, and 'appy 'arry who personnally spent days chasing round Portugal to sign Gary Charles for us (what a geezer... I wonder why??) and ended up selling Rio; he didn't want to go... and what were you going to do with the money? Try and buy a player to replace him... only, you couldn't... that's why Leeds wanted him. Then add 'Mannygate' and sheer bile and drivel that came out of Sheffield Utd... we never cheated (we were never even accused of it) and we never fielded an inellegible player... they said we did... and claimed that we found to have done so, but we didn't and the FA never said we did. So, say what you want; those that know, know. This is a non-missionary religion; you go find your own. The players, the owners, the press and the opposition supporters... my how funny they can be sometimes... you do your worst; we'll still be there. Makes the hairs stand on the back of your neck... ask any Ipswich fan that went to play off semis against us... they've never experienced anything like it in their lives and they never will again... but we might. '...fortunes always hiding; I've looked everywhere... I'm forever blowing bubbles... pretty bubbles in the air' COME ON YOU IRONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well said ADV & IRONMAN what a great post. COYI

Ironman - the cockneys probably won't like the comparison but West Ham is the only London ground I've been to that has felt like the atmosphere you get in Leeds, Liverpool or the North East.

Keep teling yourself you're glad you got relegated. You might believe it if you say it often enough. Do you get pissed off when you win games then? Gazza and his fucking tears have a lot to answer for. Dig the new breed...

Johnny, the truth is I am glad we got relegated. We were an embarasment this season and didn't deserve to stay up. We got what we deserved. The only shame is the players that were responsible for it will bugger off and earn (well, be paid) a King's ransom at another club. Players like Gabidon are an absolute disgrace. Their attitude stinks. As far as getting pissed off when we win, it happens so rarely I can't remember what it is like. The truth is football is a very peculiar business. In what other industry are the customers expected to motivate the staff? Chairman often take the piss because they know (probably correctly) that whatever they do loyalty to the club runs deep and we'll turn up. Think about it; to put it in perspective, people get divorced... how often do they change their football club? If I had a magic wand I'd have the fans boycott West Ham and buy the club when they'd brought it to its knees. Tough love. After all they own it. Without them there is no club. I'd remind all West Ham season ticket holders how much they spend, how the club relies on having their money up front, yet how the owners expect us to turn up and motivate their staff for them, buy merchandise and NEVER EVER complain, about anything but basically they will dictate, to us, their customers exactly what happens. You wouldn't put up with it in any other industry. But there will be no boycot because we are loyal... and they no it. So, getting back to the point Johnny L, I am pleased that we got relegated... I'm pleased because I'm ashamed of what we've become.

'I'm pleased because I'm ashamed of what we've become.' Let me pick up on that one, Ironman. I agree. The club who featured so many gentlemen over the years, Ron Greenwood, John Lyall, Bobby Moore, Sir Trevor, is now run by three ninnies who lack that class, and manage to sack a man in Wigan a few minutes after a game. Grant didn't work out (will anyone under Sullivan, Gold and Brady?), but he showed dignity in the loss of his job, and a class the West Ham owners can only dream of ever possessing. Grant's disappointment for the FANS was real, and he was genuine enough in describing it as his saddest day in football.

James, that is fair. You hit the nail on the head with the expression... gentlemen. And gentlemen they were. We have lost all dignity; how to get it back?

Having read what Kevin Keen has had to say today, I think the club can start striking names off that list. A Hammer through and through, and already looking at 'the next generation' as the club's future. I agree with those sentiments. There was a 'West Ham Academy' long before clubs actually had academies, schooled in the West Ham way. And that was class (on and off the pitch), passion, drive and flair. Perhaps not league challengers, ever, but a solid top division outfit, and regular performers on the European stage following cup wins.

Here's hoping you drop right through the leagues then. Still not buying it. If you love the club it should hurt you to get relegated. Still, Cockneys, never did understand 'em.

The Hammers should be fine once Dirty Den, Phil Mitchell or possibly even Alf Garnett has been appointed as the new manager. Sullivan's keen to ensure its a Brit with a keen knowledge of the East End who gets the job. Good one.

West Ham fans have the East End "gallows humour" mentality. If we smiled in the face of Hitler, why wouldn't we welcome relegation? Fact is the Premier League is a filthy, greed-filled whorehouse of a sporting league in the sleaziest and dirtiest of sports. When you're out of it, you see if for what it is. It's not about football, that's for sure.