Sadiq Khan has urged Londoners who do not support Tottenham Hotspur to get behind West Ham United, saying the capital’s taxpayers could face a bill of up to £2.5 million if the club are relegated.
With two games left in the Premier League season, Khan said the relegation fight had narrowed to a two-way duel between Tottenham and West Ham, and argued that the public would lose out if the Hammers go down. He said the extra cost would come from Championship fixtures being played at the London Stadium, adding that City Hall and taxpayers across London could be left covering an annual hit of as much as £2.5 million.
The mayor linked the warning to the 2016 agreement under which West Ham were given the London Stadium, formerly the Olympic Stadium, saying the deal struck by Boris Johnson was badly handled. Khan said the club was effectively handed the ground rent free for 100 years, and described it as “the deal of the century” for West Ham.
“What I’d say to Londoners who don’t support Spurs is you should probably be cheering on West Ham,” Khan said, before sharpening the point: “So what I say to Londoners who don’t support Spurs is you should probably be cheering on West Ham, because the taxpayer will lose out if West Ham go down.” He also said Johnson “did the worst deal that can be imaginable.”
The political edge to the warning is clear. Khan contrasted the possible public cost of West Ham’s relegation with the far larger private cost Tottenham’s relegation could have for billionaire owners, but his immediate argument was more direct: if West Ham slide into the Championship, Londoners who do not even follow Spurs may still end up paying for it.
That leaves the final two matches carrying more than just sporting weight. West Ham are still fighting to stay up, and for Khan the stakes now include whether the city absorbs another annual cost tied to a stadium deal signed in 2016.
