Goals by Boudewijn Zenden, Stephane Sessegnon and Cristian Riveros saw Sunderland achieve their highest Premier League points tally in a decade with a top-10 finish.
But Kevin Keen, who was placed in temporary charge after the sacking of Avram Grant, failed to impress the West Ham board.
Keen was facing his own job interview in the final game of the season but the West Ham players rounded off a miserable season as they failed to give their fans anything to shout about with another poor display.
West Ham will be playing in the Championship next season and Keen is highly unlikely to still be at Upton Park.
In stark contrast, Sunderland boss Steve Bruce will be happy with the way his side have finished the season, considering the number of injuries to his side.
It could have been a different result if Freddie Sears had opened the scoring for West Ham after just three minutes when his 25-yard shot was superbly beaten away by Simon Mignolet.
But it was Sunderland who broke the deadlock on 17 minutes when Ahmed Elmohamady broke away down the right and crossed for Zenden whose close-range looped over Green and into the back of the net.
Mignolet came to Sunderland’s rescue again on the stroke of half-time when he made a superb save to deny Zavon Hines’ close-range shot.
But the away side sealed all three points on 51 minutes when Sessegnon raced unchallenged towards the West Ham goal and struck a fierce shot from the edge of the box which flew past Green into the corner of the net.
Substitute Riveros completed the rout in injury time when he was unmarked in the box and fired the ball past Green.
It was a day for the Sunderland fans to remember as Newcastle’s draw with West Brom ensured they finished above them in the table.
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