BBC
Chelsea striker Liam Delap is a potential summer target for Newcastle with a fee of about £40m suggested for the 23-year-old Englishman. (Talksport), external
Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, 20, is set to extend his deal until 2031 and quadruple his wages at Old Trafford to £120,000 a week, alongside Harry Maguire's expected contract extension. (Talksport), external
Liverpool's hopes of convincing Inter Milan to sell Italy international defender Alessandro Bastoni, 26, are fading. (Teamtalk), external
Tottenham have watched German goalkeeper Noah Atubolu, 23, as current number one Guglielmo Vicario looks at a return to Italy with Inter Milan favourites. (Mail+ - subscription required), external
Everton's Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is not for sale at any price despite interest in the 27-year-old English midfielder from Manchester United. (Teamtalk), external
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe describes reports Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes could move to Manchester United as disrespectful to the Magpies and their 28-year-old skipper. (Sky Sports), external
Manchester United and Liverpool are among the suitors for 28-year-old Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson, who represents the United States at international level. (Caught Offside), external
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola is one of the leading contenders to become the next Athletic Bilbao coach following Ernesto Valverde's decision to step down. (Marca - in Spanish), external
Iraola has also been discussed by Tottenham and Crystal Palace as they both search for a manager during the summer. (Mail+ - subscription required)
The Athletic
What do West Ham’s Great Escapers from 2007 make of the current crop?
West Ham's players, including Matthew Etherington (left) during the 2006-07 relegation scrap Jamie McDonald/Getty Images
By Roshane Thomas
It was a season described as the ‘Great Escape’, and one from which the current West Ham United team will hope to draw great inspiration.
In the 2006-07 Premier League, the east London side eventually finished 15th in the 20-club table on 41 points. Sheffield United (38), Charlton Athletic (34) and Watford (28) were all sent packing to the second-tier Championship, but for a long time it had looked as if West Ham were destined for the drop.
Alan Pardew, who led the club to within seconds of winning the previous season’s FA Cup final, was sacked in early December and replaced with Alan Curbishley two days later. Between December 23 and March 4, West Ham went on an 11-game winless run in the league, losing eight times. With nine matches left, they were bottom of the league and 10 points short of the 17th place that would mean safety.
But a near-miraculous revival saw them win seven of those nine games, culminating in a 1-0 victory away to already-crowned champions Manchester United on the final Sunday that secured their top-flight status. The joyful scenes following the final whistle at Old Trafford will be something current West Ham head coach Nuno Espirito Santo and his players will hope to emulate this May.
A final-day win at already-confirmed champions Manchester United cemented West Ham’s place in the 2007-08 Premier LeaguePaul Ellis/Getty Images
His side are in the relegation zone with eight games remaining, level on points with 17th-placed Nottingham Forest (29), who have a better goal difference (-15 to -19). West Ham have lost half of their 30 league matches this season, winning seven and drawing eight. But they are on a good run of form, having only been beaten twice in 12 across all competitions since early January, ahead of league fixtures against Aston Villa (away), Wolverhampton Wanderers (home), Crystal Palace (away) and Everton (home) up to the end of April.
Matt Etherington, Hayden Mullins and Teddy Sheringham, who made a combined 495 appearances for West Ham, were members of that ‘Great Escape’ side. The trio have spoken to The Athletic about that season and whether the current team can mirror their heroics nearly two decades ago.
What is your standout memory of the Great Escape in 2007?
Etherington: “One thing that sticks in my mind is when we lost to Watford at Upton Park (1-0, in the February) and the fans started chanting, ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’. And they were right.
“But then we won at Blackburn (2-1 in mid-March), which was a massive moment and gave us real belief. The biggest thing I remember was how we stuck together, and I can see it in this current team. We’d been through a lot as a team but remained tight and accountable with each other.”
Sheringham: “(Argentina striker) Carlos Tevez made a massive difference. Him and Bobby Zamora formed a good partnership, and Bobby really stepped up towards the end. We looked doomed at one point, and people outside the club didn’t think we’d stay up. There’s a saying in football that when you’re winning games you can’t see yourself losing, and when you’re losing games you can’t see yourself winning. That’s how it felt, because we went on an 11-game winless run, then won seven of our last nine.
“The Manchester United game on the last game of the season stands out for me. No one gave us a chance, so us winning was unexpected. It sounds clichéd but the players under Nuno need to stick together. I have three of my former clubs fighting to avoid relegation this season, so I want West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham to do well. I want Leeds to crumble and get relegated. Leeds going down and Arsenal missing out on the title would make me very happy.”
Mullins: “We knew we would struggle in our second season (after promotion in summer 2005). Teams had worked us out, and we struggled to find form. The manager (Pardew) lost his job and Curbishley replaced him. We had a lot of low moments that season. I remember we lost 6-0 at Reading on New Year’s Day and Pardew gave us a rollocking in the dressing room. I will never forget that day.
“I think most of the fans were convinced we’d get relegated. The loss to Tottenham (4-3 at home in early March) was another blow, but we just felt there was nowhere else for us to go. It united the team, and I remember we had a chat among ourselves in the training ground after. We were in a really bad place.”
West Ham’s players used the pain of losing to neighbours Spurs as fuelLindsey Parnaby/Getty Images
How important was the winter transfer window during that season?
Etherington: “Lucas Neil joined in the January (from Blackburn) and he kept us together. He organised social events after training, which helped strengthen our unity. His arrival was a stroke of genius from the club. His leadership was incredible, and he’s still one of the best captains I’ve played under. I honestly believe he was a big reason why we stayed up. We had experienced elements of success with that group from our play-off run (ending in that 2005 promotion) and reaching the final of the FA Cup. But unless you’re one of the top teams in the Premier League, you’re always going to experience those low moments.”
Mullins: “We signed Lucas, Nigel Quashie, Matt Upson and Luis Boa Morte, and they all played big roles in keeping us up. It took them a couple of weeks to settle but once they fitted in, it helped us massively. When Lucas was appointed captain, he organised team-bonding exercises. It made us even closer as a group. If you ask any of the lads from that team, a lot will say those players helped lift us from a bad place. The impact they had is similar to what we’re seeing from the January signings this time around (Taty Castellanos, Pablo Felipe and Axel Disasi).”
Which player/players do you feel have stepped up for West Ham this season?
Etherington: “Mateus Fernandes has been exceptional and is a candidate for player of the season. He excites me a lot, was an astute acquisition and has huge potential. Crysencio Summerville is doing well, and we all knew he was capable of stepping up. Freddie Potts has come out of the team recently but I really like him. He could develop into a top player for West Ham. For next season, knowing the academy as I do, there are players like George Earthy (currently on loan at Championship side Bristol City) and Kaelan Casey (on loan to Leyton Orient of third-tier League One) who still have big futures at the club.
“But in terms of right now, Fernandes is looking like a seasoned Premier League player (despite only being 21). He’s far from the finished article but is getting closer to it. Previously, there’s been a lot of negative stuff written about West Ham’s recruitment, but the arrivals of Fernandes (signed from Southampton last summer), Pablo and Castellanos have really helped.”
Sheringham: “Summerville has really impressed me and he’s playing like a man on a mission. He has the wow factor and will be key to them staying up.”
Mullins: “The signing of Castellanos has helped massively with the club having a focal point up front. They didn’t really have that before he joined, so he’s brought energy to the team. If he can score more goals, they will be in a good place to avoid relegation. But the player I love watching is Summerville. He is one of those players who excites a lot of the fans and can really hurt the opposition. Him, Jarrod Bowen and Castellanos are the standout attacking players. But Fernandes has also caught my attention. He’s a good player and has impacted
Mateus Fernandes – “exceptional and is a candidate for player of the season”, says Matthew EtheringtonJustin Setterfield/Getty Images
What gives you confidence that West Ham can stay up?
Etherington: “It looked a little bleak before Christmas, but since New Year it’s looked much better. I see a togetherness in this team, which I didn’t see earlier in the season. It looked like a team of individuals who didn’t know what the game plan was, but it looks completely different now. It’s still not perfect but there’s been improvement in all areas. I’ve seen a complete transformation in Konstantinos Mavropanos, who has benefited from the arrival of (fellow centre-back) Disasi. I don’t see any egos in this team.”
Sheringham: “I like the zest that the team is playing with. There’s a fighting spirit and enthusiasm. Although it has taken a while for Nuno to get his point across, I think he is a very good manager. It looks like they are all on the same page and West Ham have a great chance of avoiding relegation. The FA Cup has been a great distraction. The club looked down and out before the QPR game (in January’s third round), but it helped transform their season. Now there’s the excitement of potentially reaching Wembley (via next month’s quarter-final at home against Leeds). It’s helped sustain the positive feeling in the camp.”
Mullins: “The Premier League is unforgiving, and the lads would have experienced that feeling on a number of occasions. It’s been a tough few years and the club probably haven’t recovered since (manager) David Moyes left (at the end of the 2023-24 season). But it’s clear that Nuno has an identity with the team now. He sits deep, likes to counter and the team are much more solid defensively. There’s a brotherhood in the team, which is something that can pull them through. That unity is similar to what we had in the latter stages of the season. That togetherness filters through to the pitch.
“West Ham are good enough to avoid relegation, but you have Leeds, who are picking up results and Forest, who are somewhat of an unknown in a transitional phase with their manager (Vitor Pereira has only been in the job for a month). Then you have Tottenham, who have been dragged into it. It will probably go down to the last game of the season. The best thing now about West Ham is that the players will look at each other in the dressing room and think, ‘Yeah, he has my back’. They’re in a good place and just need to build on it.”
BBC
How would West Ham or Spurs relegation hit London?
Chris Slegg
Relegation for West Ham United or Tottenham Hotspur would affect staff at every level of the club as well as impacting their local communities, a former Premier League chief executive has said.
In terms of crowd size – with both averaging attendances of around 60,000 – either club would be the biggest ever to be relegated from the Premier League.
Football finance experts have forecast West Ham could lose around £100m and Spurs as much as £261m, with the repercussions being felt far and wide.
"It's really the off-pitch side that gets hurt the most," former Aston Villa chief executive Keith Wyness told BBC London.
'Brutal cuts'
Wyness arrived at Villa just after their relegation in 2016 with one of his first tasks being to decide where cuts should be made.
He said: "In the Villa case, nearly 250 people in the end had to be reduced from the payroll.
"It was brutal. A lot of the cuts came in the sponsorship and commercial revenue side, where there was less need to service some very complex deals, but you have to look at streamlining every part of the club."
Another area of concern is the charitable foundations through which Tottenham and West Ham deliver valuable work in their neighbourhoods.
Those foundations provide mentoring, education and employment opportunities, as well as engaging young people and reaching some of the most vulnerable across London.
"We made sure the foundation itself stayed as strong as possible," said Wyness. "But it had to be scaled back, there's no doubt.
"It's certain that a lot of the plans we had to grow or develop those areas had to be put on hold."
On the Tottenham High Road there are fears among some bar and café owners about a possible drop in footfall on match days.
"It is a bit of a nervous time," said Asllan Islami, general manager of the Blue Coats pub.
"We won't have those key London derbies against Arsenal and Chelsea, or those regular big matches against Manchester United, Manchester City or Liverpool."
Islami – who himself supports Spurs – is remaining optimistic, nevertheless.
"On the flip side there would be four extra home games in the Championship and if Tottenham were having a good season, I'm confident the crowds would still come."
Indeed, when Newcastle United last suffered the drop in 2015-16, their attendances rose slightly during a successful year in the Championship as they secured an immediate return to the Premier League as title-winners.
For Villa too the average crowd across their three years in the Championship fell by only around 5% on the previous three years in the Premier League.
However, neither Villa nor Newcastle were trying to fill stadiums as big as Tottenham's or West Ham's during a cost-of-living crisis.
Nor were they operating against a backdrop quite as competitive as London in terms of other sport and entertainment offerings.
View through goal net, goalkeeper in orange jersey dives to left as ball from striker goes to the right from a striker in blue and purple
"Crowds stayed pretty strong," said Wyness. "Though of course, there was absolutely no room for increasing ticket prices.
"And when it came to the top end hospitality we had to be really creative. It's much harder to try and sell those areas when you don't have the attractive Premier League fixtures every week."
He believes this is "where West Ham and Spurs have got to be careful - they can't focus on revenue streams they had built on the Premier League model.
"They've got to be realistic about it – no rose-tinted glasses. They've got to realise who they are right now. Some of those fixtures will not be so attractive."
Tottenham v Lincoln or West Ham v Stockport are potential Championship fixtures next season and would clearly be a much harder sell than Spurs v Arsenal or West Ham v Chelsea.
Currently Spurs charge fans an average of £76 for each home match, with only five clubs in Europe costing more. It's forecast that their matchday revenue of £131m across the season would plummet to around £79m in the Championship.
In an economic impact report published by Tottenham in December 2023, external they claimed to generate £344m for the local economy and stated an aim to increase that to £585m by 2026-27.
They also said they supported 3,700 full-time jobs in the local area, with a target to raise that to 4,300 across the same period. Relegation would almost certainly hinder their chances of achieving those targets.
'Very worrying time'
Over in Stratford, a West Ham relegation would hit every London council taxpayer in the pocket. The Hammers are tenants at London Stadium.
Under the terms of the agreement they signed with then Mayor Boris Johnson ahead of their move to the former Olympic Stadium in 2016, their annual rent will be cut in half should they go down. That would leave them paying just £2.2m a year.
Furthermore, the running costs of the additional four home games would also have to be met by the Greater London Authority, leaving the cost to Londoners at around £2.5m a year.
Asked how off-field staff at each club will be feeling right now, Wyness said: "It's just a very worrying time.
"There will be people, especially in the present financial climate, who will be very concerned, and that will translate into their job performance.
"It's so important for the leaders off the pitch in the club to be able to handle this with great humanity."
BBC London asked both clubs what plans are being drawn up to prepare for the possibility of relegation but they declined to comment.
Wyness said: "I hope they are planning properly, and not just paying lip service to it.
"You've got to be getting all your consultations ready in terms of layoffs and all that sort of thing, and I'm afraid it's just not pretty but this is the time to focus and be professional."
With so much at stake beyond the confines of the pitch, the stars of Tottenham and West Ham will be playing for far more than professional pride over the next few weeks as they bid to keep their clubs in the Premier League.