West Ham Now Owe £100 Million

According to The Sun West Ham will have to pay back the £100 million plus interest that the Icelandic consortium used to buy the club. Every year West Ham will have to pay the consortium around £5 million in interest, the first payment being due on March 31st, and pay off the £100 million by 2016.

So in effect the consortium will end up having bought West Ham for nothing. The article also does not mention how much the new owners will be taking out of the club in the form of share dividends and how much Magnusson will be taking in the form of wages. All ways up it looks like that far from saving the club the new consortium has merely quadrupled the club's debt in one fell swoop.

This may be fine if the consortium's January investment in players brings success on the pitch and West Ham can achieve regular European football. If we are relegated, an outcome that is not unknown in West Ham's history, then we are well and truly screwed.