• ‘It’ll be Armageddon if we go down – worse than Newcastle’
• Pay reductions reported to amount to 25% of salaries

The West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has revealed that players and management staff will be asked to take a salary cut even if the club avoids relegation from the Premier League and has warned that it will be “Armageddon” if the Londoners go down.

“Everyone will be asked to take a cut this summer,” Sullivan told the Sun, which reported that the pay reductions would amount to 25% of their salaries.

High earners such as Scott Parker and Kieron Dyer, who reportedly take home around £65,000-a-week are among those who may be affected, as well as the England defender Matthew Upson.

The full scale of the financial crisis at Upton Park is made clear in documents which the paper claims reveal the club owes £15m to other teams in outstanding fees for its current squad assembled for a costly £75m.

“It’ll be Armageddon if we go down. It’ll be worse than what’s gone on at Newcastle,” said Sullivan. “I can’t believe the contracts I’ve inherited. Every position is overpaid, whether in administration or on the playing side. All are earning more than they would at other clubs.

“We have made cutbacks already but may have to make another 20 or 30 people redundant by the summer. We have already had people in senior positions offer to take a voluntary 25% reduction to keep their jobs. It’s been gratefully accepted. If someone is doing a good job but is overpaid you still want to keep them. But many people at the training ground should take a voluntary pay cut. There’s an army of people supporting the first team. Everyone at the club will be asked to take a salary cut in the summer. The club is in a mess and we all have to pull together. If we go down I can’t even consider the situation.”

West Ham, two places off the bottom, face Sullivan and David Gold’s former club Birmingham City at Upton Park tomorrow evening. Gold has said he hopes his new club “whack” Alex McLeish’s side.

“I was at Birmingham City for years and it was great – but I really want to whack them,” he said. “I have a great fondness for Birmingham but it was said the way it ended. I am a lot wiser now than when I went there 17 years ago and I want to win. My allegiance is to West Ham – that it where my heart and sole is and I think of my mum looking down and going: ‘Come on you Hammers.’”

West Ham UnitedDavid SullivanPremier LeagueGregg Roughleyguardian.co.uk

• Parker says West Ham have ‘too much quality’ to go down
• Midfielder feels international break has come at a bad time

Scott Parker says West Ham United will soon escape the relegation zone despite their home defeat by Everton on Sunday. “We’ll get out of it. We’ve got too much quality,” the midfielder said. “This happened to us last year. We had a run of bad results when we didn’t really deserve it. We need to pick up results as quick as we can, concentrate on playing well and I’m sure it will turn around.”

Unfortunately for Parker and his team-mates the international break means they have nearly a fortnight until they resume in the Premier League with a game against fellow strugglers Hull City, whose victory over Stoke City on Sunday, thanks to a last-minute goal by Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, took them a point and a place clear of West Ham.

“I don’t think it’s a good time to have a break,” Parker said. “We’re playing some good stuff and in the position we’re in we want to kick on. We obviously need to get on the training field and work on what we need to do and get a result at Hull. It’s a massive game for us but I think every game this year is going to be massive. It’s not happening for us at times – we’re playing well but not picking up results. We’re going to have to bounce back at Hull now.”

For a club whose finances are precarious, the idea of playing in the Championship next season is particularly uncomfortable. But Parker added: “It’s too early to say it’s a relegation battle. The league is tight this year. Everyone seems to be able to beat everyone.”

For Everton, meanwhile, their 2-1 victory after seven games without a win was sweet. “It’s just nice to get three points,” said Sylvain Distin, who was excellent in the visitors’ defence. “Even if you pretend you’re not affected, you do think about it. That doesn’t mean your confidence is low.”

West Ham UnitedEvertonPremier LeagueJamie Jacksonguardian.co.uk