West Ham United players face significant pay cuts if the team are relegated from the Premier League this season, according to The Telegraph.
The Hammers have endured a disappointing campaign in the Premier League, currently sitting just outside the relegation on goal difference in 16th and two points from bottom.
And according to The Telegraph [13 March], the club planned for a “doomsday scenario” with a policy of including pay cuts in the contracts of players in the event of relegation.
The report reveals that their big-money signings such as Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca who arrived in the summer “agreed to clauses in their contracts that will see their pay fall if West Ham are relegated to the Championship.”
It is therefore believed the club are well covered in respect of their wage bill should the worst happen.
The club could resume action after the international break bottom of the Premier League if results this week go against them.
Understandable
This latest report is totally understandable given the current predicament the club finds itself in right now, and it seems as if the Hammers hierarchy had been planning well ahead for this scenario even after finishing sixth and seventh in the last two seasons.
It seemed impossible at the start of the campaign that West Ham would be in this dreadful position. Most fans would have been outraged if they believed the club would be steeped in a relegation dogfight at this stage of the season, especially after the money spent last summer.
Despite the club’s continued backing of Moyes behind the scenes, it is safe to say that his immediate future at the club is in serious peril.
The club have certainly declined under his watch, especially in the tactical sense, which has been a huge factor in their current position.
Whether he is the man to take them out of this rut is uncertain, but imagine the clamour should the club suffer relegation. It would indeed be disastrous so wage cuts are certainly a sensible action moving forward should the worst happen.