Credit: Match of the Day

Max Wilkins

Mon 25 May 2026 7:05, UK

Alan Shearer hasn’t held back after West Ham United were relegated from the Premier League.

The Hammers have seen their return to the Championship confirmed despite securing a 3-0 win over Leeds United on the final day.

Taty Castellanos, Jarrod Bowen and Callum Wilson may have netted at the London Stadium, but it just wasn’t enough in the end.

That has prompted many questions surrounding the Irons and what the future holds moving into a new campaign in the second tier.

Excuses have emerged in some circles after West Ham were relegated, but Shearer isn’t having any of it in East London.

Alan Shearer bats away West Ham relegation excuses

It almost sums up the campaign in E20 that a top win over Leeds has come when it really didn’t matter in the end.

The claret and blue outfit were deserving of three points, but didn’t get a favour from Everton as Tottenham also secured victory.

There has been hope in weeks gone by that Roberto De Zerbi’s side will fall away, and their results would drop off.

Spurs picked up 10 points in the final five games of the season, and that proved to be enough to keep them in the Premier League.

That has left Kelly Cates questioning on Match of the Day whether there was an element of poor fortune to the Hammers’ relegation.

She asked: “Is there an argument that West Ham were unlucky to go down with that points tally?”

Shearer wasn’t having it as he snapped back: “No way. You can’t be unlucky after 38 games. The fact of the matter is that they deserve to go down. They’ve been really poor for long periods. They’re not good enough defensively, and haven’t scored enough goals. They haven’t been unlucky.”

West Ham were relegated after beating Leeds and only have themselves to blame for getting into that position.

Which games sealed West Ham’s relegation fate?

It just hasn’t been a good enough overall season for the Irons, and relegation has always been a realistic end location, unfortunately.

It all started in the worst possible way when Graham Potter oversaw back-to-back defeats against Sunderland and Chelsea to begin the campaign.

Losing 3-0 and 5-1 respectively was soon followed by a 3-0 defeat at home to Tottenham and a further four defeats before November.

That isn’t to say things have been perfect under Nuno Espirito Santo, with a 3-0 loss away to Wolves and a 2-1 failure against Nottingham Forest at the London Stadium hampering their survival bid.

All that combined with a recent run of three defeats against Brentford, Arsenal and Newcastle, condemned the Hammers to their fate in the second tier.