West Ham rocked by £28m loss

West Ham’s accounts outline the club’s fear of financial meltdown, with Premier League survival described as an ‘absolute necessity’ after pre-tax losses of £28.2million amid a significant increase in wages. Only goal difference is keeping David moyes’s side out of the bottom three and the impact of dropping down to the Championship would have ‘serious financial consequences’, according to yesterday’s report. the Hammers, who host Liverpool tonight in the Premier League, have won only three games since september and brought in moyes (right) after sacking manuel Pellegrini in December. West Ham’s wage bill rose by almost £30m in 2018-19, from £106.6m to £135.8m. they spent £107.9m on signings in the summer of 2018 and have a net spend of £214.4m on players over the last four years. In the report, sullivan writes: ‘the board made a decision at the beginning of 2018 to embark on an investment programme that would involve bringing in a world-class manager, investing in better players and making significant investment into infrastructure. ‘We signed manuel Pellegrini, invested £107.9m in transfer fees, grew the wage cost to £135.8m and invested £4m into facilities. We also spent £600,000 setting up a women’s team.’ sullivan’s statement was written in October, with the club flying high in eighth in the Premier League under Pellegrini. the highest paid director at the club was Karren Brady, whose salary increased from £898,000 to £1.136m.