Michail Antonio insists the decision to take him to West Ham United from Nottingham Forest in 2015 was driven by David Sullivan rather than head coach Slaven Bilic.
Last week, Sullivan came off worse in a power struggle with co-owner Daniel Kretinsky.
The Hammers confirmed that Nuno Espirito Santo will stay in control for 2026/27. The noises out of the London Stadium suggest that, while Kretinsky was keen to keep Nuno in the dugout, Sullivan favoured a fresh start.
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The highly-unpopular West Ham United chairman is certainly not afraid to make his opinion heard, or press ahead with bold decisions.
For instance, the one he made in 2015 when the Londoners stumped up £7 million for then-Nottingham Forest dynamo Michail Antonio despite serious reservations from the dugout.
Michail Antonio credits David Sullivan with West Ham United move
Antonio, still the club’s all-time record Premier League goalscorer, reveals he was initially supposed to join West Brom rather than their near-namesakes from the capital. That was until his representatives delivered a compilation of Antonio’s best moments to the man in charge at Upton Park.
And while many continue to condemn Sullivan’s influence in the recruitment department, this is one the long-serving chairman got right.
“The move was actually quite crazy,” Antonio says on the LIFEJACKET podcast. “Because at the beginning of the year, I thought I was going to West Brom. I thought I was signing for West Brom because they were interested in me and I didn’t really hear anything from anybody else.
“I think West Brom contacted Forest and made an offer to them without telling my agent or anybody. So Nottingham Forest turned it down because they were in a transfer embargo and they didn’t really want to let me go.
“How I got a move to West Ham [instead] was by my agency calling up David Sullivan and saying, ‘Look, we have this player here.’ They sent him a DVD – old school – of clips of me and said, ‘Look at him. This is what he’s done this year; 15 goals, 15 assists in the Championship.'”
Slaven Bilic didn’t want Antonio at Upton Park initially
Before being moved on by Graham Potter last summer, Antonio acknowledges that numerous West Ham bosses ‘tried to sell me’. Bilic certainly had reservations in the beginning.
Reservations Antonio would dispel while racking up a highly-impressive eight goals in 23 starts during his debut Premier League campaign.
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“[After watching the DVD, Sullivan] showed the gaffer, Slaven Bilic,” Antonio recalls. “The gaffer’s like, ‘No, not interested.’
“So then my agents call up David Sullivan again, going, ‘Look, I’m telling you, he’s going to be good for you, blah, blah, blah.’ Like, basically schmoozing David Sullivan! And so David Sullivan actually signed me.
“He was the one who signed me. He wasn’t sure, but he took the risk on me, right?”
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