To be relegated is one thing, to go down with a whimper is another, and here was conclusive proof that the table doesn’t lie. News of favourable goals elsewhere and enhancing pride should have been as much a motivation for Middlesbrough as fighting for survival, but their fate was sealed soon after the opening whistle.

At no stage did victory look likely, let alone overturning the five-goal swing. At the end, several players fell to the floor and would not be comforted. It was a bleak day for the North East and Middlesbrough depart with the stigma of the joint-fewest wins, the poorest attack, their lowest points tally in the Premier League and a run of 12 successive away defeats, stretching back to December, setting a club record dating back to their formation in 1876.

No leader, no spine, no confidence and only 1,200 travelled to witness it. Afonso Alves’s four league goals this season, and none in his past 12 matches, are a pitiful return for a striker who cost a club-record £12 million. David Wheater has gone backwards, other arrivals have flopped.

The only vestige of hope may be several promising local players, but wiser recruits will be needed as Gareth Southgate admitted that his team are not equipped to bounce back. He will meet Steve Gibson, the chairman, this week. “We will have to improve to get out of the division below,” Southgate said.

They boasted the exotic skills of Emerson, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Juninho the last time they were relegated, in 1997, since when they have mostly pulled clear of trouble to end in mid-table, but a deprived squad was highlighted by a destitute substitutes’ bench yesterday. The transformation from extravagance into prudence was inevitable, working against a backdrop debt of around £85 million.

Relegation calls into question the futures of Tuncay Sanli, Adam Johnson and Stewart Downing. Other players are on prohibitive contracts that keep them on top-flight wages. “There’ll be personal agendas that come to the fore,” Southgate said. “We have to bring some money in to go forward.

“There will be big changes, inevitably, in the playing personnel. I don’t regret any of the players who have moved on. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to bring in enough of the right kind of characters to help the young players get through.”

Some, perhaps, will be tempted to glory in Middlesbrough’s fall, just three years after they reached the Uefa Cup final. Southgate might rue not being able to persuade his chairman to sell Downing and Gary O’Neil in January, using the money to address glaring inadequacies.

Southgate conceded that some fans want him to leave, but he is determined to remain. “I want to stay,” he said. “We might end up stronger for getting our finances in order over the next few months. You have to go through the painful things to come out better.”

Even O’Neil’s equalising goal, after Tuncay’s diagonal run, brought no momentum and seven minutes later the impressive Junior Stanislas restored West Ham United’s lead when his low drive slipped under the hands of Brad Jones. The home side had led when LuÍs Boa Morte fed an overlapping Hérita Ilunga to cross for Carlton Cole to score his tenth league goal this season.

Boa Morte, Stanislas and Lucas Neill could have added to the lead in the dying moments as they finished ninth, one place better than last season. “It was a perfect way to end the season and we’re really looking forward to next season,” Gianfranco Zola, the West Ham manager, said.

Southgate was named manager of the month in August and took Middlesbrough to the top ten in autumn. “Today wasn’t the reason we went down,” he said. “We grieve tonight but look forward tomorrow.”

West Ham (4-1-4-1): R Green 6 J Spector 6 L Neill 5 M Upson 7 H Ilunga 6 R Kovac 4 L Boa Morte 5 M Noble 5 J Collison 6 J Stanislas 6 C Cole 6 Substitutes: K Dyer 5 (for Noble, 54min), D Tristán 4 (for Cole, 65), D Di Michele (for Collison, 72). Not used: J Lastuvka, W López, S Nsereko, J Payne.

Middlesbro (4-4-2): B Jones 4 A McMahon 5 D Wheater 5 R Huth 5 J Hoyte 5 G O’Neil 6 M Bates 5 J Arca 5 A Johnson 4 M Emnes 5 Tuncay Sanli 6 Substitutes: J Bennett 5 (for McMahon, 46min), J Walker 5 (for Arca, 46), J Franks (for Emnes, 81). Not used: R Turnbull, M Shawky, R Williams, J Grounds.

Referee H Webb Attendance 34,007

Players of the season

West Ham United Robert Green

An ever-present in goal for two successive seasons, he will hope to be given a chance to establish himself with England soon.

Middlesbrough Tuncay Sanli

The Middlesbrough fans who chanted “We’ve only got one player” in reference to the Turk recently were not far off the mark.