West Ham's final-day win over Leeds United was too little too late as they slumped to relegation from the Premier League after a 15-year stay in the top flight.
The Hammers needed a victory and for Tottenham to lose at home to Everton to stay up. They kept their side of the bargain with second-half goals from Taty Castellanos, Jarrod Bowen and Callum Wilson sinking Leeds 3-0.
But Spurs beat Everton to survive by two points, sending West Ham down instead.
End of an Era
Relegation comes a decade after the controversial move to the London Stadium and the hollow promises from the owners.
Their brief revival under Nuno Espirito Santo, who replaced Graham Potter as manager in September, began too late and fizzled out too early.
"We sold our soul for this," rang around the former Olympic Stadium as fans turned their anger towards chairman David Sullivan.
The Leeds fans were in no mood to be sympathetic, chanting "Millwall away ole ole."
Decline Underway
Supporter will point to the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal and the subsequent dismal investment of his £105 million transfer fee.
West Ham cherry-picked cheap players from relegated clubs: James Ward-Prowse, Kyle Walker-Peters and Mateus Fernandes from Southampton, Crysencio Summerville from Leeds and Mads Hermansen from Leicester.
Now the same will happen to them, with Bowen, Summerville and Fernandes likely first out of the door.
The signs proclaiming 'end-of-season sale, 50% off' on the giant screens at the ground felt distinctly portentous.
Match Details
Leeds almost sucked the hope out of the building in the opening moments when James Justin shanked a shot across goal, but Lukas Nmecha was unable to divert the ball home.
Nmecha then jinked his way into the West Ham penalty area and squared for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but Hermansen came out to make a vital block.
The Hammers found some momentum and Pablo Felipe's goalbound shot was headed over by Pascal Struijk while Fernandes saw a drive beaten away by Karl Darlow.
Two minutes before half-time, the news filtered through that Joao Palhinha had put Spurs ahead, and the energy was sapped out of the home crowd.
Pablo, the Portuguese striker signed in January for £21m who contributed no goals whatsoever, was replaced at the break by Callum Wilson.
Some hope arrived in the 67th minute when Bowen swung in a corner and Castellanos rose highest at the far post to bury a powerful header.
Wilson struck the third in stoppage time shortly after Fernandes had sent Bowen scampering through, with the Hammers captain at least able to say a likely farewell with a goal.