David Sullivan certainly will not be expecting a warm welcome at the London Stadium when Nuno Espirito Santo’s West Ham United host Brentford in Monday’s Premier League clash.
The Hammers United supporters’ group are planning to boycott the opening minutes of this televised fixture, in an attempt to demonstrate their dissatisfaction on the widest possible platform.
This comes after West Ham’s Fan Advisory Board announced a vote of no confidence towards the board, and around 4,000 supporters lined the street in an attempt to ‘welcome’ David Sullivan to the ground during their last home clash against Crystal Palace.
Graham Potter’s final match in charge, for what it’s worth.
West Ham United is seldom a happy place these days. But it has been quite a while since things felt quite this toxic. Nuno Espirito Santo even found himself pleading to the supporters during his press conference on Friday.
A Hammers side with only four points to their name need all the backing they can get, he admitted.
Now, speaking on James Richardson’s Totally Extra podcast, Picfair CEO Benji Lanyado recalls the day when Sullivan and David Gold took over the club after the reign of Icelandic duo Eggert Magnusson and Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson.
Lanyado remembers it so clearly because, quite simply, he was the only other bidder in the process.
Benji Lanyado explains how he tried to take over West Ham United
As a West Ham supporter with an interest in the business world – Lanyado once told 24Fingers that he dreamed of leading the line as a claret and blue-obsessed child – the opportunity to throw his hat into the ring was one he wasn’t going to pass up.
“This is real! I was outbid by Gold and Sullivan, by maybe £80 million,” Lanyado says, Magnusson and Gudmundsson hit extremely hard by the Icelandic financial crisis.
“I was in the running nonetheless. This would have been 2008. There were administrators who were kind of running the process because the owners at West Ham were in a lot of financial trouble.
“I emailed in. I showed proof of funds. £350 at Nationwide branch Crouch End! I said some very nice words about Iceland in my email, which I thought would help,” adds the chief executive and founder of photography brand Picfair.
“They didn’t respond to me. But in some of the write ups post-deal, it was revealed that the only other bidder was an enterprising fan.
“I hadn’t given much thought to an actual tenure of owner of West Ham, but I like to think I would have brought passion. £350 may sound like a paltry amount to some, but Ken Bates got Chelsea for a pound!”
Alan Pardew hits out at former Hammers chairman Eggert Magnusson
It is fair to say Alan Pardew does not look back on the Magnusson era fondly.
The manager who took West Ham from the Championship to the top-half of the Premier League table and an FA Cup final to boot told talkSPORT this week that he felt undermined almost immediately after Magnusson arrived on the scene in 2006.
Pardew would lose his job only weeks later, replaced by Alan Curbishley. No wonder he sympathises with the now-sacked Ange Postecoglou, with Evangelos Marinakis growling down at him from his Nottingham Forest throne.
“I remember when I was manager at West Ham, we used to have an owner, ‘The Egg’ I used to call him. God, he was a pain. Useless,” Pardew said.
“[During one game] he had his head in his hands. Literally, holding his head in his hands, and the cameras were on him. What chance do you have if your owner is like that?
“So, I feel for Ange.”
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