Avram Grant is set to become the third West Ham manager to finish bottom of the top flight.
Grant - whose team sit in 20th position in the Premier League, having suffered five successive defeats - are hot favorites for the drop, despite having three 'winnable' games yet to play.It is widely believed that West Ham need to secure a minimum of seven points from their final three games of the season - at home to Blackburn, away to Wigan and home to Sunderland on the final day of the campaign - in order to stand a chance of avoiding the drop.
However with the Hammers having won just five league games at home this season - and only three away from home in the past TWO YEARS - supporters' hopes of survival are based very much on hope, rather than any belief in the under-pressure manager or his under-performing playing squad.
The only two managers to finish bottom of the top flight whilst in charge of the club are Syd King in 1931/32 and Billy Bonds, in 1991/92. John Lyall's squad finished second from bottom in 1988/89, whilst Glenn Roeder (2002/03) and John Lyall (1977/78) both went down finishing third from bottom.
Six pack? West Ham's five previous relegations...
Premier League 2002/03 - finished 18th (third from bottom)
Glenn Roeder's team - temporarily managed by Trevor Brooking - are relegated on the final day of the campaign at Birmingham despite amassing 42 points - a total that in most seasons would have seen them stay up comfortably, and one that remains a record for a team relegated from the Premier League. Twice since the Hammers have accrued a lower total and stayed up.
Division One 1991/92 - finished 22nd (bottom)
A game best remembered for a Frank McAvennie hat-trick was the last at the Boleyn before the Hammers were relegated in the final year of pre-Premier League football. Never higher than 14th at any stage of the season, Billy Bonds' side are eventually relegated on 25th April after going down 1-0 at Coventry.
Division One 1988/89 - finished 19th (second from bottom)
The season that did for long-term manager John Lyall - and one that came just three years after he had led the club to their highest ever finish in the top flight of English football. Five defeats in the final six games of the season - including a 5-1 thumping at Anfield on the final day - see the Irons' relegated for the second time under Lyall's leadership.
Division One 1977/78 - finished 20th (third from bottom)
Despite enduring a torrid season - in which the Hammers are 18th or below all year - Lyall's side, who had won only four games at home all season went into the final game of the campaign (at home to Liverpool) knowing that an unlikely win could keep them up. A season-best crowd of 37,448 pack into the Boleyn to see the Hammers go down 2-0.
Division One 1931-32 - finished 22nd (bottom)
West Ham - under the tutelege of Syd King - are relegated for the first time in their history having spent nine season in the old Division One. A bright start to the campaign saw the Hammers in the top half during September - before nine defeats in 13 games left them at the wrong end of the table, where the remained. The managerial reins are handed over to Charlie Paynter; King commited suicide a year later.
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