According to reports in The Mirror, West Ham United stars have improved their performances in the pitch in recent weeks in the knowledge that they will have their wages halved if they suffer relegation to the Championship this season.
What's the word, then?
Well, The Mirror says that most of the squad have clauses in their contract that mean they will be forced to accept seeing their weekly wage cut by 50% if the east London outfit go down.
Since the awful 4-0 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park last month, the Irons have improved significantly and as well as being unlucky not to take at least a point against the Premier League's runaway leaders Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, David Moyes' men have followed that 2-1 defeat up with a win and a draw at home against Chelsea and Arsenal respectively in the last week.
The Mirror adds that the Hammers ensure they include the clause in the contracts as they know that revenue drops significantly in the Championship, and they could run the risk of being fined or even worse if they were to overspend.
Does anyone not have the clause in their contract?
The Mirror says that Joe Hart is one of those that is exempt from the rule, as he is only loan from Man City and his wages are split between his parent club and West Ham.
While some may think that this shines a bad light on Hart's teammates given some of the poor performances this term, they obviously would have known about it beforehand.
Will it make a difference this season?
It certainly will.
While the financial implications for the players might not be their only motivation, it is still probably one of their biggest ones and none of those players will want to take a 50% pay cut.
When you suffer relegation with a club you certainly aren't guaranteed to secure a move back to the Premier League either, and the team will know that they must fight for survival as one over the course of the next few months.
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