As the minutes ticked away and the trap door widened, the home crowd wanted everyone to know who they blame for West Ham’s relegation. They were united in their disdain for David Sullivan, the club’s shortsighted owner, and spent the final moments of a dreadful season showering him with abuse.Sullivan watched from the directors’ box, perhaps contemplating how it has come to this point, but the answer is his refusal to relinquish power. This is his mess. West Ham have dropped into the Championship for the first time since 2012, a 3-0 victory over Leeds on the final day not enough to lift them out of the bottom three at Tottenham’s expense, and as the club’s largest shareholder and most influential individual it is Sullivan who must accept much of the blame.When it was over it was hard not to feel that relegation had to happen here, at the home without a soul, an unloved monument to West Ham’s decade of dysfunction, incompetence and arrogance.This is the next level. There will be no Champions League football at the vast, endlessly peculiar London Stadium. It has been 10 years since West Ham left Upton Park without any sign of an actual plan but Karren Brady’s prediction of a world-class team in a world-class stadium was exposed as meaningless marketing talk long ago. Ultimately this is a club without a vision, a club with nothing at its core, and this was an uncomfortable manThe mistakes have piled up. West Ham won the Conference League three years ago but did not build on that success. They let David Moyes go and asked Julen Lopetegui to make them more expansive. They sacked Lopetegui and turned to Graham Potter in January 2025. Nothing worked. Potter went five games into this season, making way for Nuno Espírito Santo, but the former Nottingham Forest manager could not do enough. Nuno’s reign began in a fog of confusion, leaving West Ham with too much to despite a brief revival after Christmas.Agony for West Ham fans after learning Spurs have taken a first-half lead. Photograph: Nick Potts/PAWhat comes next? No one mourned Brady quitting as vice-chair a month ago. Nuno might walk away. West Ham posted losses of £104.2m last year, meaning players will go. Jarrod Bowen, who scored the second here, deserves better. The captain is wanted by several top sides and there is also interest in Crysencio Summerville and Mateus Fernandes, who made Bowen’s goal.Sullivan will need to bring in more than £100m in sales this summer. The best thing he can do, though, is sell up. The trust is gone. Sullivan left his seat long before full-time. West Ham fans will hope that is the last they have seen of him.Whether Nuno leads the rebuild remains to be seen. There was no chance of him using the back three that had to be abandoned 25 minutes into last weekend’s defeat at Newcastle. He brought back his old-school 4-4-2 system, reuniting Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos up front, and when the game kicked off it was easy to fall into the trap of thinking that West Ham had no intention of going quietly.Quick GuidePremier League teams in Europe next seasonShowChampions League Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, LiverpoolEuropa League Bournemouth, Sunderland (Crystal Palace will also play in the Europa League if they win the Conference League final on Wednesday)Conference League BrightonNuno needed his big players to perform. West Ham tried to lift themselves, the twinkletoed Summerville probing down the left, a snapshot from Pablo deflected over. As the midway point of the first half approached, though, the nerves were starting to take hold. Castellanos sped into a promising position on the left, only to dither. There were overhit crosses from El Hadji Malick Diouf, some heavy touches from Pablo, and for a while the only real source of entertainment came from the Leeds fans running through all the Championship teams West Ham were about to face next season.Gripped by anxiety, West Ham grew passive and tentative. There was no urgency, no momentum. Leeds played with freedom, another good move ending with Dominic Calvert-Lewin failing to smuggle the ball past Mads Hermansen from close range, and the home fans grew restless, even booing after more diffident defending led to Jayden Bogle rattling a shot into the side-netting in the 40th minute.News of Tottenham going ahead soon followed. Half-time arrived with West Ham circling the drain and the atmosphere in danger of turning mutinous.Nuno responded by bringing on Callum Wilson for Pablo, a forward who has failed to score since joining from Gil Vicente for an initial £17m in January. Wilson almost made an impact, winning possession and releasing Castellanos, but the Argentinian wanted too long and the chance was lost.Jarrod Bowen scores West Ham’s second goal but it was not enough to save his team. Photograph: Tony O Brien/ReutersWest Ham became desperate, Castellanos wasting another chance. Aware that it was now or never, the home fans began to roar their team on. There was a mixture of defiance and anger. Castellanos opened the scoring with 23 minutes left, rising to head in a corner from Bowen, and many fans turned to the directors’ box to goad Sullivan and call for him to quit.Leeds, their top-flight status secured a long time ago, wilted after going behind. West Ham pushed again, Fernandes sending Bowen through to score with an angled drive and Wilson adding a third in added time, but a long, painful summer awaits.