When Declan Rice hoisted the Europa Conference League trophy aloft in 2023, few would have envisaged that West Ham United would be preparing for life in the Championship just three years later. A first major trophy for 43 years followed a Europa League semi-final the season before and would be backed up by another European quarter-final in 2024. The Hammers also finished sixth and seventh in the Premier League in 2021 and 2022.
It was an era for the east London club in which relative success had become the norm. But things can change quickly in football and for the first time in 14 years, West Ham will be playing outside the top flight. The Irons are the favourites for an instant return to the Premier League, which they achieved in 2011-12, though the English Football League (EFL) can be an unforgiving environment, even for a club boasting the biggest stadium in Championship history.
And with an ownership tug of war playing out behind the scenes, which way will it go for West Ham in the 2026-27 campaign? This is a path well trodden by other big clubs in English football in recent history. Newcastle United have dealt with adversity with relative ease on the two occasions they have been relegated to the Championship, bouncing straight back in 2010 and 2017.
Aston Villa dragged themselves back following relegation in 2016, but it took three years, including a 13th-placed finish in their first season in the second tier followed by a play-off final defeat before eventual promotion. But Leicester City, Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United fans can all attest to just how quickly the situation can spiral once a team is sucked into the EFL grind. Leicester were Premier League champions 10 years ago.
This season they will be playing in League One, just two years after relegation from the top flight. Blackburn lifted the title in 1995 and enjoyed several European campaigns along the way. But Rovers were relegated to the Championship in 2012 - and to League One in 2017.
They are yet to get out of the EFL. Similarly in 2004, Leeds were relegated just four years on from a Champions League semi-final and one year after a Uefa Cup campaign. It would take 16 years and a journey down to the third tier before Leeds played in the Premier League again.
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