It’s been a momentous summer since the fateful Leeds encounter in May which saw West Ham win yet suffer relegation from the Premeir League.
In that two short months the emotional rollercoaster has been at full pelt with the shattering BBC Panorama programme and its fracture of the Hammers boardroom followed by a ‘will they-wont they quit the club’ edge-of-the-seat drama with key players dragging their feet over commitment to the Irons in the second division.
And just last week the launch of a hostile takeover bid has supporters again struggling to work out the possible ramifications from Amanda Staveley’s bid to buy into the boardroom and how that will affect the Kretinsky – Sullivan shareholder dynamic.
Whatever else, it isn’t dull being a West Ham United fan.
I’ll bet Netflix wished they’d commissioned a fly on the wall series about the football club this summer. It’d be a captivating watch.
Bbc.co.uk report the situation even more fractured (if such a thing were possible) with their report yesterday:
“West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has been advised to stay away from the club’s home matches in the wake of a BBC Panorama and Times investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.
A spokesperson for London Stadium, where West Ham play their home games, told BBC News it had “recommended” to West Ham that Sullivan does not attend matches because of concerns about fan unrest.
London Stadium has asked for advance notice of any planned visits by the billionaire businessman in order to implement additional safety and operational measures.
However, it is understood that the club expects Sullivan to defy the request not to attend home matches and has told London Stadium this.”
So let get this straight: London Stadium have advised West Ham not to let their (allegedly disgraced) majority shareholder attend matches owing to safety concerns – and West Ham expect him to defy this request. Confused? There’s no question in my mind that there’d be a reaction should the news travel round the stadium that Sullivan had turned up. And I’m not sure it’d be pretty.
Just for once in this sorry saga, you’d hope that common sense might prevail here, and the person at the centre of the Panorama programme and the Football Regulator’s own contact with West Ham might do the right thing by the club which is struggling to distance itself from the fall out after his resignation as Chairman.