EPA/Reuters

Relegation for Tottenham or West Ham would have a serious financial impact

Relegation for West Ham United or Tottenham Hotspur would affect staff at every level of the club as well as impacting their local communities, a former Premier League chief executive has said.

In terms of crowd size – with both averaging attendances of around 60,000 – either club would be the biggest ever to be relegated from the Premier League.

Football finance experts have forecast West Ham could lose around £100m and Spurs as much as £261m, with the repercussions being felt far and wide.

"It's really the off-pitch side that gets hurt the most," former Aston Villa chief executive Keith Wyness told BBC London.

He said: "In the Villa case, nearly 250 people in the end had to be reduced from the payroll.

"It was brutal. A lot of the cuts came in the sponsorship and commercial revenue side, where there was less need to service some very complex deals, but you have to look at streamlining every part of the club."

Another area of concern is the charitable foundations through which Tottenham and West Ham...