West Ham supporters have taken the extraordinary step of contacting police as they prepare plans for a mass protest designed to force the club’s owners out amid growing unrest in east London.
Majority owner David Sullivan, vice-chair Karren Brady, second biggest stakeholder Daniel Kretinsky and the rest of the board are coming under renewed pressure to leave West Ham United.
Fan anger has been bubbling to the surface again over the last 19 months with West Ham sleepwalking into crisis.
Now the Hammers are standing on the precipice of disaster with the club looking nailed on relegation candidates following the worst start to a Premier League season of any team in history.
Already on a minus seven goal difference after two games, West Ham have no money to invest in one of the weakest squads in the top flight.
Penniless West Ham facing £100m losses and relegation
Coming during a summer where the Premier League spending record has been smashed with over a week to go shows what Graham Potter is up against.
Since January 2024 West Ham have won just 15 of their 59 Premier League games spanning three managers.
There is no sign that horrendous record is going to improve anytime soon – so West Ham need to wake up to the fact they are in a relegation battle.
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West Ham’s owners revealed £100m losses are coming in the club’s accounts in December.
Relegation on top of that would leave the Hammers on the brink of financial ruin – which is where they were when Sullivan, David Gold – who died in 2023 – and Brady arrived in east London back in 2010.
Except now West Ham do not own their own stadium and have no saleable assets worth any serious money on the playing staff besides captain and talisman Jarrod Bowen.
West Ham head coach Graham Potter looks shellshocked after the thrashing to Chelsea
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
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.
The secretive ‘Czech Sphinx’ spoke out in an interview about the situation last year, though.
And Kretinsky confirmed he has no intention of a full West Ham takeover, while pressing ahead with plans to build a brand news stadium for his other club Sparta Prague.
Hammers News warned fans Kretinsky’s true motivation was to double his £150m West Ham investment when he arrived.
Kretinsky’s buy-in came just days before a record new TV deal was announced which essentially guaranteed him a £300m return as part of West Ham’s £500m plus share.
Now, four years on, supporters are seeing that for themselves as Potter is left penniless in his bid to try and turn a sinking ship around.
Brady insisted West Ham’s owners are going nowhere in an interview which infuriated fed-up fans last week.
A large section of Hammers fans have turned their back on the club over the move from Upton Park to their rented athletics bowl.
Now a prominent supporter group is set to take matters into their own hands.
Furious West Ham fans have contacted the police over plans for a mass protest to force the owners out.
Former West Ham captain Mark Noble tackles fan protestor to the ground during an infamous defeat to Burnley in March 2008
Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Getty Images
Back in March, it marked seven years since Mark Noble rugby tackled a West Ham fan to the ground during angry protests against Burnley.
West Ham fans were furious with the club’s owners at the time.
David Moyes had taken over from Slaven Bilic on a six-month deal and was trying to keep the Hammers in the Premier League.
West Ham played Burnley at home and tensions quite literally reached breaking point.
Some Hammers supporters invaded the pitch after three second-half Burnley goals condemned the hosts to a third consecutive defeat.
Tensions at breaking point again, seven years on from battle of Burnley
West Ham’s board were forced to leave the directors’ box near the end as anger boiled over and supporters chanted ‘sack the board’.
There is an image of Sir Trevor Brooking, one of West Ham’s most treasured sons, remaining unperturbed in his seat, knowing he was untouchable, as supporters gathered in their thousands to hurl abuse at the board has become iconic.
A famous face among Hammers fans then took one of the corner flags and planted it in the centre circle.
That man, Paul Colbourne – aka Bubbles – chairs Hammers United, a leading West Ham fan group.
And Hammers United have now taken a formal step towards staging a mass fan protest against the owners.
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
West Ham’s dismal start to the new season has seen them battered 3-0 and 5-1 by Sunderland and Chelsea.
Potter is under pressure and supporters walked out in their thousands when the fourth goal went in at the London Stadium on Friday night.
It seems fans have now seen enough.
In a statement, Hammers United reveal they are reaching out to the Met Police to put plans in place for a protest after demands from members.
‘Utter mess they have put our club in’
“We will be making contact with the Metropolitan Police in response to calls from our members to help plan a protest,” Hammers United state.
“This will show the senior leadership team at the club what our members and the wider supporter base think of the utter mess that they have put our club in.”
We will be making contact with the Metropolitan Police in response to calls from our members to help plan a protest.
This will show the senior leadership team at the club what our members and the wider supporter base think of the utter mess that they have put our club in.
— Hammers United (@HammersUnited2) August 23, 2025
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The same group were behind a number of protests held against the owners in the lead up to the battle of Burnley.
There is no date set for the protest as yet and it remains to be seen how long it would take for police permission with West Ham’s next home game being against bitter rivals Spurs after the international break on September 13th.