By Alex Beard

29th Feb, 2020 | 12:53pm

Tony Cascarino has say on the problems at West Ham

We all know that there are significant problems at West Ham United these days, with a real breakdown in the relationship between the club and its supporters.

The fans are absolutely sick of the leadership group led by David Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady.

They are beyond frustrated with the club’s lack of progress in recent years, the false promises made by the owners and the soulless bowl that is the London Stadium.

That discontent has led to sustained protests against the owners in recent weeks, something that will likely continue for Saturday’s crunch clash with Southampton.

Former Republic of Ireland international Tony Cascarino is concerned that the club’s off-the-field problems could impact the team’s fight against relegation this season.

“Today’s going to be a tough one because, first of all, the atmosphere’s going to be quite toxic at the London Stadium,” he said on talkSPORT.

“It’s a relegation battle, and the players need the fans on-side. They, really, have got such a dislike for their owners… I think if they thought they could get rid of their owners and go down, in some ways it would be a new start for the football club and something that they would consider as an option.

“A lot of West Ham fans are ‘we don’t care if we go down, we just don’t want these owners’. I just think the anti-owners [sentiment] is an issue for the club.”

Would the Hammers fans accept relegation to get new owners?

It’s one of those hypothetical questions that always comes up in these situations. It’s something that’s routinely posited before Newcastle United supporters when they’re battling against the drop.

However, it’s not that simple. The likeliest scenario is that the Irons would go down, but Gold & Sullivan would remain in charge.

That would be the worst possible outcome for the Hammers fans, so it’s not as if relegation=new owners.

Having new people in charge of the club is paramount for the future success of West Ham, but that doesn’t seem like a particularly realistic proposition at the moment.

In other West Ham news, manager David Moyes is expected to make two changes for Saturday’s game.