The West Ham board have broken their silence on growing unrest after pundit Simon Jordan sent a strong warning to David Sullivan about planned supporter protests.
Hammers News was the first to reveal plans for a West Ham fan protest against the owners last month.
Majority owner David Sullivan, vice-chair Karren Brady, second biggest stakeholder Daniel Kretinsky and the rest of the board have come under renewed pressure to leave West Ham United.
Fan anger has been bubbling to the surface again over the last 19 months and it threatens to boil over again – just as it did seven years ago in an infamous defeat to Burnley at the London Stadium.
Mark Noble rugby tackled a Hammers fan to the ground during angry protests and pitch invasions that day in 2018.
West Ham fans were furious with the club’s owners at the time.
But the advent of the pandemic followed by a hugely successful period under David Moyes – which saw a club record Premier League points total, West Ham’s only major trophy of the last 45 years and European qualification three years in a row – had quietened the resentment from the fans to the owners.
Now prominent Hammers fan groups have been planning to take matters into their own hands to try and force the board out of the club.
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Hammers fans plan board protests
West Ham have been linked with a number of takeovers in recent years.
Especially since the arrival of Czech billionaire Kretinsky.
Now worth an estimated £13bn, there were hopes Kretinsky would one day launch a full takeover bid for West Ham.
But Kretinsky confirmed he has no intention of a full West Ham takeover last year while pressing ahead with plans to build a brand new stadium for his other – and boyhood – club Sparta Prague.
Karren Brady has insisted West Ham’s owners are going nowhere in an interview after the 3-0 defeat at Sunderland on the opening day.
That news did not go down well with large factions of the fanbase.
The 5-1 home defeat to Chelsea and 3-2 Carabao Cup exit at Wolves saw West Ham fans contact police about making arrangements for a protest against the board.
West Ham have gone out and spent £60m on two quality young midfielders in Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa since as well as getting their first win of the season with the 3-0 victory at Forest.
Failure to make any significant signings, bar loan defender Igor Julio, on deadline day has sparked further unrest among supporters.
West Ham majority owner David Sullivan spotted watching the women's team in the FA Cup semi-final in 2019.
Photo by James Chance/Getty Images
Especially as West Ham’s owners revealed £100m losses are coming in the club’s accounts in December.
The national press, usually too obsessed with goings-on at their media-driven so-called “Big Six”, are now starting to pick up on the unrest at West Ham.
That in itself is telling.
The Telegraph has declared West Ham are on the brink of civil war after the club’s official fan advisory board – which claims to represent 25,000 supporters – issued a letter of no confidence in the board.
Another prominent West Ham fan group, Hammers United – which is chaired by supporter Paul ‘Bubbles’ Colborne – is also planning protests for the Spurs and Brentford games under a new tagline using Brady and Sullivan’s initials – ‘No more BS’.
Now the West Ham board have responded as pundit and ex Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan sends a protest warning to Sullivan.
talkSPORT pundit Jordan has never hidden the fact he and Sullivan do not get on.
West Ham board respond as Jordan sends warning to Sullivan
Jordan famously accused Sullivan of ‘phantom bids and faux ambition’ – something which struck a chord with Hammers fans who are unhappy with the owners.
A glance at social media and fan forums suggests a small section of fans are divided over the protest plans, feeling it could be detrimental to Graham Potter and a team that is in transition and may have a fight against relegation on its hands.
But supporter groups insist fans must not be swayed by the odd good result and instead strive for action regardless.
Jordan has told Sullivan he must meet with fans and set out a clear plan if he is to diffuse the situation.
“Now David Sullivan is no friend of mine, I do think he operates football clubs in a certain way,” Jordan said on talkSPORT, which you can watch in full below.
“Birmingham fans disliked him intensely at the time (he was their owner) but they never had it so good as when Sullivan and (David) Gold were there…
West Ham fan Paul Colborne, chairman of the Hammers United fan group, plants a corner flag in the centre circle during a pitch invasion in 2008
Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images
Jordan tells Sullivan to meet with West Ham fans
“West Ham have never liked Sullivan, they never liked David Gold, God rest his soul, and they didn’t like the move from the Boleyn to the taxpayer’s stadium.
“Every London club would have taken that opportunity. Whether they handled that the right way is a different matter.
“The fans have a right to have an opinion. I do think we live in an age where activism seems to be at the front of people’s minds. I do think there is a pushing up against the line of what is reasonable to expect from your football club and what you think you’re entitled to – and there’s a balance between that…
“Yes of course I would meet with them (the fans if I was Sullivan), not 25,000 of them, but their representatives. Then what will happen they’ll go back to their 25,000 and they will have in-fighting amongst themselves about how they didn’t get the answers that they thought they were going to get.”
Well now they have one answer at least from the club’s ownership.
Hammers News put it to the top spokesman for West Ham’s owners whether they were going to issue any statement on the protest plans.
“Regarding the protests, no we won’t be commenting,” West Ham’s top spokesman told Hammers News.
“We don’t think they help the club nor do they provide solutions.”
Whether that stance changes remains to be seen.
But until there is either a complete change at the top or, at the very least, clarity on the club’s financial situation and plans and aims for the future, it seems a growing number of supporters will not rest.