Simon Jordan has never hidden his disdain for West Ham chief David Sullivan but is often the first to defend him against criticism from angry Hammers fans.
Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has often been an unlikely ally for Hammers majority owner David Sullivan at times.
Jordan is often Sullivan’s fiercest critic.
It was Jordan who famously accused Sullivan of ‘phantom bids and faux ambition’ when West Ham were unsuccessfully bidding to sign Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha from Leeds.
Jordan’s very public dislike of Sullivan stems from their transfer jousting as rival club owners when at Palace and Birmingham respectively.
The outspoken pundit is the least of Sullivan’s worries nowadays of course.
Jordan is usually Sullivan’s most unlikely ally
Not only are West Ham staring into the abyss of relegation, but record £100m losses are on the way and fans are revolting against the board once again.
Fan anger has boiled over as a result of West Ham’s unfathomable regression over the last two years.
This is shocking! 😰 Relegation is going to be dire for West Ham…
What would YOU do to avoid this mess?
After winning a first major trophy for nearly half a century, spending three seasons in Europe and selling Declan Rice for a pure £105m profit, West Ham have failed dismally to kick on.
Instead the club and team have been circling the Premier League plughole with just 19 wins from their last 74 top flight matches.
West Ham’s Fan Advisory Board issued a vote of no confidence in the owners after the season started with a 3-0 defeat at Sunderland.
It was a sign of things to come and since then the Hammers have recorded just three victories from 17 games, leaving them in the bottom three and effectively six points adrift of safety.
Hammers fans have been protesting against the owners and vow to continue their campaign until Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady are forced out.
With many tipping West Ham for relegation, Sullivan’s day of reckoning may be on the horizon.
West Ham are paying the price for woeful, incoherent, haphazard and confused recruitment when it comes to players and managerial choices.
But Hammers fans have often been ridiculed and accused of being too demanding and unrealistic in their expectations.
That’s despite being lured to the London Stadium most despise on the promise of competing with the Premier League’s elite on and off the pitch.
Jordan will leave West Ham fans gobsmacked with new Sullivan claim
Despite his dislike of Sullivan, Jordan has been one of the most outspoken when it comes to shouting down West Ham fans protesting against the owners.
Now Jordan will leave West Ham fans gobsmacked with his new Sullivan claim.
talkSPORT pundit Sam Matterface delivered an absolutely brilliant assessment of the club’s situation and why supporters are so unhappy.
West Ham’s record when it comes to BIG MONEY signings isn’t great 💸
Who will be the player to break the curse?
Jordan was reluctant to place all the blame at Sullivan’s door, pointing out the co-owner had backed several managers with sizeable transfer spends and big-money signings.
But in a real turn-up for the books, Jordan has finally conceded West Ham fans are being proved right all along about Sullivan.
Because he thinks they are going down.
“Over the years the West Ham fans have cried about Sam Allardyce’s style of football, they’ve been unhappy about other peoples’ style of football, they were unhappy with David Moyes’ style of football,” Jordan said on talkSPORT, which you can watch below.
“There is a style of play issue, there is a quality of team issue and the West Ham fans will say ‘well that’s not good enough’. But when you actually analyse it and look at the nuances and look at Karren or whoever is recruiting for them, David (Sullivan)… I remember them spending £40m quid under Manuel Pellegrini on the boy Felipe Anderson who was an absolute waste of time.
“So there’s been times where they’ve gone and backed managers… you have to bring managers into the (blame game) conversation and make them culpable.
“I’m no fan of David. I like Karren, I think she’s great at times. With Sullivan I have little time for him but the fact of the matter is West Ham are in a difficult position, the fans are completely and utterly disengaged with the ownership, but with respect to the fans they were disengaged with (Eggert) Magnusson, they were disengaged with Terry Brown when he was the owner because there’s a constant thrust of thinking about what the fans think the owners should and shouldn’t be able to do.
“In this instance, given West Ham’s decline, they will have a point, they will have a point. Because the end result is they are being proved right for the wrong reasons.”
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