West Ham’s final-day win over Leeds was too little too late as they slumped to relegation from the Premier League.
The Hammers needed a victory and for Tottenham to lose at home to Everton to stay up and send Spurs down instead.
They kept their side of the bargain as second-half goals from Taty Castellanos, Jarrod Bowen and Callum Wilson sank Leeds 3-0.
But Spurs, who had very sportingly been bad enough to take the relegation scrap to the last day, beat Everton to survive by two points.
It brought to an end West Ham’s 15-year stay in the top flight, with relegation coming a decade after the controversial move to the London Stadium and the hollow promises from the owners that came with it.
Their brief revival under Nuno Espirito Santo, who replaced Graham Potter as manager in September, began too late and fizzled out too early.
“We sold our soul, for this ****hole” rang around the former Olympic Stadium as fans turned their anger towards chairman David Sullivan.
The Leeds fans were in no mood to be sympathetic, chanting “Millwall away ole ole”, a fixture which could keep the Metropolitan Police busy next season.
Relegation will come as no surprise to seasoned West Ham watchers, with the club having been in decline ever since David Moyes took them to Conference League glory in 2023.
Supporters will point to the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal and subsequent dismal investment of his £105million transfer fee.
West Ham cherry-picked cheap players from relegated clubs; James Ward-Prowse, Kyle Walker-Peters and Mateus Fernandes from Southampton, Crysencio Summerville from Leeds and Mads Hermansen from Leicester.
Now, the same will happen to them, with Bowen, Summerville and Fernandes likely first out of the door.
The signs proclaiming ‘end-of-season sale, 50% off’ on the giant screens at the ground felt distinctly portentous.
As for the match, Leeds almost sucked the hope out of the building in the opening moments when James Justin shanked a shot across goal, but Lukas Nmecha was unable to divert the ball home.
Nmecha then jinked his way into the West Ham penalty area and squared for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but Hermansen came out to make a vital block.
The Hammers found some momentum and Pablo Felipe’s goalbound shot was headed over by Pascal Struijk while Fernandes saw a drive beaten away by Karl Darlow.
Then, two minutes before half-time, the news filtered through that Joao Palhinha had put Spurs ahead, and the energy was sapped out of the home crowd.
Pablo, the Portuguese striker signed in January for £21million who contributed no goals whatsoever, was replaced at the break by Callum Wilson.
Some hope arrived in the 67th minute when Bowen swung in a corner and Castellanos rose highest at the far post to bury a powerful header.
Wilson struck the third in stoppage time shortly after Fernandes had sent Bowen scampering through, with the Hammers captain at least able to say a likely farewell with a goal.
