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Lord Sugar praises West Ham owners

Spurs fan Lord Sugar has praised West Ham owners David Sullivan and David Gold saying they have a feeling for their fans unlike many of the American owned clubs. Attacking the greedy six clubs he told Jim White on Talksport that Manchester United supremos were “pseudo owners, as opposed to Chelsea and Manchester City where the owners are the owners really.

He continued, “I’m trying to be polite but some of these clubs that are owned by giant corporations don’t have the feeling for the fans.

“When you’ve got some of the owners like West Ham, they’ve got a feeling for the fans, Leicester City have got a feeling for the fans.”

Former Spurs owner Lord Sugar is wholly against the idea though, insisting fans lack the required expertise to have a seat at the board’s table.

“That is totally ridiculous, fans on the board,” Lord Sugar told talkSPORT. “Absolutely totally ridiculous.

“At Tottenham, now we’ve got a new stadium at 60,000 capacity, we’ve got 60,000 managers, who all know best(!)

“You don’t want them anywhere near the board. The board has got to be controlled by the owners and at best has got to have a director of football that’s actually been in football, understands football.

“At the tail end of my ownership of Tottenham, I had Martin [Peters], as one of our ex-players and on the board and I had David Pleat on the board – people of knowledge who know what they’re talking about.”

Lord Sugar also claims he warned Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy against joining the European Super League.

I spoke to Daniel Levy and I said to him, ‘Daniel, this is not a good idea. You have an opportunity here of being magnanimous and pulling out and saying the fans don’t want it, so we’re going to come out’.

“It’s an absolute, total joke and an example of the Americans trying to take over our game.”

 

About Sean Whetstone

I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball, I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh. Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons! Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter

7 comments on “Lord Sugar praises West Ham owners

  1. Of course he doesn’t want them anywhere near the board. Might upset the apple cart. I’m sure WH can find a chap or chappess from their ‘favoured’ fan clubs who has financial and football experience to represent supporters.

  2. Wasn’t it him and his ‘panel of experts’ who turned down the chance to sign Dennis Bergkamp, calling him carlos kickaball?

  3. They have been counting hue but they can’t add up

  4. 50+1 is a pipedream, but having 1 fan on the board would be a start. He’d probably be outvoted most of the time and I wouldn’t envy him in that role. Might even sort some chaff from the wheat.

  5. The best scenario is to have a financially astute business person, running your football club, but, they must also love the game. Cast your mind back to Simon Jordan owner of Crystal Palace. He lost millions because he was unable to separate his passion as a supporter from his business accruement. As Lord sugar has stated, he brought football men into the boardroom, whilst retaining financially sound practices. Most fans have unrealistic targets for their clubs, hence Charlton’s demise after ousting Alan Curbishly, even though he was attaining top ten finishes. Be careful what you wish for, because dreams are merely that, dreams. I know from bitter experience, as a West Ham fan, but we are constantly reminded from our club anthem “Bubbles” ‘In like my dreams, they fade and dies. So enjoy the game for what it is, maybe a pint in the pub after the game discussing the highs and the lows, and maybe, just maybe, your club can achieve the unthinkable dizzy heights of Leicester City 2015/16.

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