According to reliable West Ham United insider ExWHUemployee there is a rift among the board over how the club is being run.
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West Ham are making all the headlines of late, mostly for the wrong reasons.
The Guardian claims that a US-based consortium has had two offers for West Ham rejected, the second reported to be £400m, and will return with another bid soon.
It comes as fans and players revolt against co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold over their running of the club.
West Ham unrest reaches boardroom level – insider
But it seems there is even unrest in the upper echelons of West Ham too.
ExWHUemployee claims differing opinions among the board have caused something of a rift, when speaking on the West Ham Way poodcast last night (Wednesday September 16th).
“The board are frustrated,” ExWHUemployee said on The West Ham Way podcast.
“I think there is a rift amongst the board. There has been a lot of disagreements recently about how to run the club going forward. So I think they would be willing to sell for less than they would previously.”
While there are various members of the West Ham board, Sullivan and Gold are the owners and major shareholders.
But it is Sullivan who has the controlling stake and is said to be the one making all the major decisions.
Reading between the lines it is perhaps the controversial sale of Grady Diangana that has caused a rift between Sullivan and Gold.
Earlier this month Gold broke a six-month Twitter silence by posting a picture of Diangana with fellow youngsters Ben Johnson and Conor Coventry in an apparent nod to West Ham’s new strategy of using the club’s young players in the first team.
— David Gold (@davidgold) August 21, 2020
Less than two weeks later West Ham infuriated fans and players alike by selling the exciting winger to West Brom for £20million.
Gold’s Diangana and Rice messages put his marker down over running of the club?
This week Gold took to Twitter again, this time to congratulate Declan Rice on becoming the youngest West Ham player to reach 100 appearances.
Under normal circumstances there would be nothing particularly unusual about Gold’s message.
But with intense transfer speculation surrounding Rice’s future and a potential bid from Chelsea, Gold’s words made it clear he would not sanction the sale of their star man should someone come knocking.
Gold said on Twitter: “I would like to congratulate Declan on his 100th Premier League appearance for West Ham United – a magnificent achievement. I’m very proud of him and he epitomises everything that this great football club stands for.”
I would like to congratulate Declan on his 100th Premier League appearance for West Ham United – a magnificent achievement. I am very proud of him and he epitomises everything that this great football club stands for. pic.twitter.com/Dm0zvFT6il
— David Gold (@davidgold) September 15, 2020
This is all conjecture of course. But has Gold deliberately made it clear to fans where he stands because of the reported rift among the board?
Our View: Did Diangana sale light the fuse on a rift between Gold and Sullivan?
Gold is likely still smarting from the sale of Diangana – which was also against David Moyes’s wishes (Daily Mail).
If Sullivan – as the chief decision maker – decides to sell Rice, Gold has made it patently clear where he stands.
And it may be no coincidence that, not long after Gold had posted about Rice on Twitter, a ‘joint message’ from the co-owners appeared on the club’s official website.
Perhaps Sullivan had seen what Gold had done on Twitter and wanted to align himself in an official capacity so as not to take all the flak if the inevitable does happen when Chelsea come calling?
After all Rice broke the record on Saturday and it took until midday Tuesday for the message to appear on the club’s website.
And it is not as if West Ham’s media team were busy writing up press releases about new signings in those three days.
Diangana may, or may not, have been a hit at West Ham. But for many fans the sale of an exciting academy graduate, just four years after leaving their beloved Upton Park to avoid these very situations, was symbolic.
They believe it to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. And many hope the furore caused by it will eventually lead to Sullivan, Gold and Karren Brady leaving the club.
If a rift has developed between Gold and Sullivan perhaps that process will now be expedited.
West Ham fans live in hope.