David Sullivan in takeover talks with West Ham

Takeover talks: David Sullivan is ready to invest in the Hammers
Ken Dyer11 April 2012

David Sullivan has held preliminary talks with West Ham about investing in the cash-strapped Premier League club.

Sullivan and former Birmingham co-owner David Gold are both keen to return to football after selling their stake in Birmingham to Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung and have targeted West Ham, the club Sullivan supported as a boy, as their first option.

Sullivan, though, has painted a bleak picture of West Ham's current plight and may be put off by the asking price of £100million to take over the club who are believed to have debt well in excess of £50m.

"The debts that appear to be at West Ham seem huge," said Sullivan yesterday. "I'm not sure I could face what is going on there but West Ham do need help and quickly. I hope someone gets involved in the next week or next month or two, otherwise they could be in the Championship or bust, or both."

West Ham, owned currently by CB Holdings who, in turn, are owned largely by Icelandic investment bank Straumur-Burdaras, have made no public reply to Sullivan's comments but it is understood that although initial talks in the last couple of weeks involve a possible injection of cash, a complete takeover is still a possibility. Their financial position, following the departure of former chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, is precarious but they have no plans for a fire sale of players to raise cash in January.

Sullivan and Gold, who is being kept informed as talks progress, are among several investors interested in West Ham and Straumur, who must answer to creditors by the end of the year, continue to run the club in accordance with a self-financing policy.

They remain keen to sell but may prefer to wait until the financial climate improves.

That would make things difficult for manager Gianfranco Zola, who has already been forced to sell defender James Collins to Aston Villa before he could buy Alessandro Diamanti from Italian club Livorno.

Sullivan and Gold, who was also brought up in the east end, are enthusiastic about buying into West Ham but are nervous about the level of the debt and the team's League position.

There has been talk of a rift between Zola and technical director Gianluca Nani but Zola has denied there is any problem. The former Chelsea star, though, would welcome fresh investment in the club.

"As one door shuts another one opens," said Sullivan. "West Ham is a club close to my heart and I would love to be involved with them."

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