‘Damning indictment’ – West Ham have ‘no soul’ and will be relegated – and David Sullivan could jump ship

West Ham have been widely tipped to be playing in the Championship next season after another crushing defeat.

Meanwhile, Simon Jordan wonders if relegation from the Premier League could lead to unpopular owner David Sullivan cutting ties with the club.

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Nuno Espirito Santo’s side suffered a second-half collapse as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night.

An own goal from Murillo had given the Hammers a half-time lead at the London Stadium.

However, Nicolas Dominguez equalised for the visitors just moments after Crysencio Summerville was denied a second by VAR.

New signing Taty Castellanos was found to be offside in the build-up, with the goal chalked off as a result.

The video assistants intervened once again for Forest’s winner as they were awarded a late penalty.

Alphonse Areola was penalised after colliding with Morgan Gibbs-White when attempting to punch a cross clear.

Gibbs-White stepped up to convert the resulting spot-kick with just a minute of normal time remaining.

The result leaves West Ham seven points from safety in 18th place after their tenth match without a win.

It means the Hammers are in serious danger of suffering relegation from the top-flight for the first time since 2011.

Hammers tipped for relegation

Former goalkeeper Rob Green believes that is a very real prospect for his old side.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ coverage of the match, Green asked: “Ten games without a win you’re wondering, where is the answer now?

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“Where do West Ham go now? Where does Nuno go from here? You can’t see things continuing much longer with the results like this.

“They need at least 30 points to have any chance of staying up and they’re not going to get close at this rate.”

It is a view which Jason Cundy agrees with as he said their relegation fate has been creeping up on them since they appointed Julen Lopetegui in the summer of 2024.

The former Chelsea defender exclaimed on The Sports Bar: “That is an absolute disaster. They’ve got one foot in the Championship.

“That’s probably the biggest game they’ve had since the Conference League final. That was enormous and they didn’t turn up. And I’m talking about the fans as well.

“Look, I get it. They’re a broken fan base. They are broken. There is no soul at West Ham. It’s completely gone. They don’t want to be there. They’ve almost accepted they’ve gone.”

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Cundy continued: “Before the game, they’d accepted their fate. Even if they won tonight, there are West Ham fans listening to this that will even believe they would not have stayed up. Now they’ve got one foot in the Championship.

“That is terrible. We’re just into January. Their fans have told us by the amount of empty seats there were. And they’ve spoken with a back side by saying, ‘we ain’t putting our bums on here. We’re staying at home. We’re going down to the pub or I’m going shopping again for a night’.

“Whatever they’re doing tonight, those West Ham fans have spoken. And this is a damning indictment on everything to do with West Ham United Football Club.

“This is on the owners. It’s on everyone in the hierarchy. The appointment of Julen Lopotegui, that’s where it started for me.

“This has now come home to roost. This is it. It’s all been trickling down.

“And tonight, this was the biggest game for my money since the Conference League final, which they won. This is the biggest game and they decided to not turn up.

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“That tells you all you need to know, in my opinion, about what West Ham fans feel about their club. About their hopes. About their general dreams about this football club. They are on their knees. They’re on their knees.”

Nuno has won just two of his 16 matches in charge since replacing Graham Potter in September.

David Sullivan’s future

As pressure grows on the Hammers boss, Simon Jordan believes he may not be the only one high-profile figure to leave the club.

The talkSPORT co-host expects chairman David Sullivan to sell if West Ham are relegated to the Championship.

Speaking on Tuesday’s White and Jordan ahead of the match, the former Crystal Palace owner explained: “I think that West Ham are a club that are heading down into the Championship.

“Not because I want them to, but because there is a whole disconnect there. I don’t disagree with the West Ham fans in principal about their complaints but I don’t think it helps the cause.

“I understand they hate playing football or supporting their team in that stadium or they feel they’ve been sold a pup and I get all that. None of that helps the position that they’re in now.

“They’ll say, ‘as long as it helps get Sullivan out the door, we don’t care’.

“And it might be that West Ham become a club that become a really good buy if they get relegated to the Championship because I don’t see Sullivan wanting to be around a football club in the Championship.”

Jordan added: “It (not selling the club) doesn’t make sense commercially because he’d be taking a pill on it.”

Sullivan first purchased a 50 per cent share in the club in 2010 alongside David Gold but became sole chairman after Gold’s death in 2023.

During his time at West Ham, the club dropped out of the Premier League in 2011 before securing an immediate return via the play-offs.

They have remained in the top-flight ever since, qualifying for Europe five times and winning the Conference League.