West Ham Owners Admit Staying Up Is "Absolute Necessity"

EPL club West Ham said that staying in the EPL is an "absolute necessity" after posting losses of £27.26M ($35.4M). Despite spending more than £130M on transfers, and £214.4M in the last four years, it is only "above the Premier League drop zone on goal difference." The club said that there will be "serious financial consequences" should it be relegated to the League Championship (BBC, 1/28). West Ham invested £22M ($28.6M) over the last four years on infrastructure, including the refurbishment of the Rush Green training ground (PA,1/28).

The accounts also reveal that co-Owners David Sullivan and David Gold were paid a combined £2.9M in interest in August '19 on their loans to the club and that a further £1M was paid to GGI international, a company related to Gold, "in respect of a partial repayment of loan capital." As of May '19, the "combined balance of unsecured loans advanced by Sullivan and Gold" amounted to £45M (London GUARDIAN, 1/28).