By Thai Newsroom Reporters
WEST HAM UNITED are striving to avoid relegation from the Premier League, the top tier of the English football echelon, or else their revenue will drastically plummet with or without a Thai sponsor to feature in front of the Hammers’ shirts next season.
West Ham have reached an initial sponsorship agreement with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to have an “amazing Thailand” slogan blazoned in front of their home shirts for the 2026/2027 season. But the final value of the Thai sponsorship, currently calculated to cost 10 million pounds per year, may primarily depend on whether the Hammers are staying up in top flight or getting relegated to the second-tiered Championship upon the end of the current season.
The lower tier in which a football club play, the cheaper the sponsor’s advertising fee.
Given the English Football League ban on all gambling sponsors from manifesting themselves in front of the player’s shirt from next season, the Hammers have warmly welcomed the Thai tourism agency to replace Boylesports, an Irish-owned betting firm. The Hammers who expected to lose an estimated 104 million pounds this year, compared to a revenue of about 57 million pounds last year, will undoubtedly find it necessary to keep themselves from being relegated at all costs, regardless of how much the deal for the front-of-shirt sponsorship with the Thai tourism agency will be adversely affected.
West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo has been working under pressure since he was given the job last September in place of Graham Potter who was fired for failures on the pitch at London Stadium for home games and elsewhere for away games, supposedly keeping in mind that the near future of the East London club will primarily hinge upon his squad’s performance week in, week out until the final match of the season scheduled for May.
The Portuguese manager has apparently placed a great deal of reliance upon skipper Jarrod Bowen whilst talented strikers such as the likes of Crysencio Summerville, Callum Wilson, Taty Castellanos and Pablo Pereira de Jesus have taken turns to emerge in the first-team lineup and it will be up to anyone’s guess as to how many among them would continue to stay with the Hammers if they were finally relegated to play in the second tier next season.
Given seven games to go until the end of the current season, the Hammers are currently having 29 points with seven wins, eight draws and 16 defeats, albeit just one point below the fellow London club, namely Tottenham Hotspur, now ranking 17th to barely stay up in the 20-club Premier League. Among a total of four clubs struggling to stay up in the top flight, namely Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham and West Ham, only one will certainly be relegated in addition to two others who are very likely moving down to the second tier, namely Burnley and Wolverhampton. However, chances for those clubs to survive the relegation battles are roughly equal with the possibility of being decided on goal differences.
West Ham who were promoted from Championship playoffs to the Premier League in 2012 would be of help to some extent in promoting the Thai tourism with the front-of-shirt “amazing Thailand” slogan even though they might possibly play in the second tier against their own will whilst Tottenham might possibly as well make worldwide news headlines for an epic fail to stay up.
CAPTIONS:
Top – A West Ham representative wearing a shirt with “amazing Thailand” blazoned across the front, right, and Tourism Authority of Thailand Deputy Governor Nithee Seeprae holding talks with the football club’s Executive Director Nathan Thompson, left. Photo – Thai Rath
Front Page – West Ham shirts with “amazing Thailand” slogan on them. Photo – PPTVHD36
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