From Jeremy Nicholas’s website
With great sadness, I have resigned as the stadium announcer at West Ham United after sixteen seasons on the microphone. The club asked me to take a 60% cut in my wages, to less than half of last season’s salary. It’s part of a review of all match days costs, to cut the club’s debt. While I would do anything to help the team I love, this just wouldn’t work for my family and me at this time.
My wife has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease and has been off-work and housebound for the past eighteen months. I have had to stop my freelance work as a BBC TV reporter, to stay at home and look after her. While it was a tough decision for me to resign from West Ham, I had to put my family first. Without the TV work my main sources of income are now as a conference host and an after-dinner speaker.
By committing myself to West Ham for the lower fee, I would have effectively been making a loss on being the announcer; because of the twenty days it ruled me out of speaking work. I understand the decision and realise that we, and I will always think of the club as ‘we’, must be struggling with the debt.
To put it into perspective, I have earned less in my sixteen seasons at West Ham, than many premier league footballers earn in a week. I will always be available to the club in the future if they need me, but I felt now was the time to step down. I’d like to thank all the lovely people I’ve worked with at the club over the past sixteen years. We are in safe hands with David Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady who have saved our club from financial disaster. They have had to make some tough decisions. I just wish I hadn’t been one of them.
Most of all I’d like to thank the West Ham fans, who are second to none. If any West Ham fans have need of a corporate host, media trainer or after-dinner speaker, now is the time to ask, because the next few months are going to be tough.
Come on You Irons!_
A very sad day. Jeremy is one of the good guys. Those of you who have read his book MR MOON HAS LEFT THE STADIUM will know how devastated he will be at this turn of events.
UPDATE: Jeremy has written more about this on Kumb HERE . He reveals that his pay was to be cut from £10k a year to £4k.