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Uh Tom Clayton is joining us for some uh some breaking news, Tom. Uh yeah, that's right. This uh lunchtime, West Ham United have posted a statement saying West Ham Hakan confirmed that joint chair David Sullivan has stepped down from his position with immediate effect. Mr. Sullivan has also resigned as a director of both WH Holding Limited and West Ham United Football Club. Having been made aware of the impending publication of serious historic allegations, it's understood none of the allegations relate to West Ham United or any of its operations. through his own legal representatives. Mr. Sullivan denies any illegal conduct and has taken the decision to step down in order to avoid disruption to the club while he
addresses the matter privately. Interim chief executive officer Karim Verani reporting into the current board of directors will continue to be responsible for leading the club's day-to-day operations. The club will provide an update to the future structure of the board of directors in due course, but at this time will make no further comments. So just that breaking news, West Ham United have confirmed that joint chair David Sullivan has stepped down from his position. Uh thanks Tom. Yeah, uh that'll be a lot of interest to West Ham fans. So yeah, we just heard the news Tom Clayton broke it around quarter past 12 that David Sullivan has resigned as West Ham chairman uh and director. He has written
a statement which is long but it is worth reading. Uh he says, "I've recently become aware that factually incorrect and entirely false decades old allegations concerning my personal life are due to be broadcast and published. The false allegations leveled against me have been sensationalized by the media. After a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry in which I've met thousands of women, it's sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me. I categorically deny these claims. I'm a private man and those who personally and professionally know the real David Sullivan, not the caricature invented by the tabloids, know exactly
who I am and what I stand for. I'm absolutely not the person the media has decided to paint me as. I've not been provided with any proper explanation as to how these individuals or their claims were independently verified or assessed for credibility prior to publication. I believe the entire process has been fundamentally unfair and completely lacking in any due impartiality. I'll be suing the BBC for liel along with any other media outlet that repeats any lielist allegations. None of these allegations relate to my more than 30 years in football. West Ham United has been one of the greatest passions and privileges of my life. I care deeply about the club, its supporters, its
players, its staff, and its future. At what is already a challenging and important time for the club, I refuse to allow personal matters concerning me to become an unnecessary distraction or a source of instability. Therefore, after very careful consideration with a heavy heart, I've decided to resign as joint chair and director of West Ham United FC with immediate effect. This has been an incredibly painful decision to make, but it's one made out of love, respect, and responsibility toward a football club and a fan base that deserve absolute unity and focus moving forward. Uh, I'm stepping down to apply my full energy and attention on fighting these false allegations. I've officially engaged my
legal team. We're preparing to issue legal proceedings in respect of each and every false complaint that has been made against me. I'll be seeking full redress legally and publicly on every single front. As I depart, I want to thank everyone connected with West Ham United, past and present, for the loyalty, friendship, memories, and European adventures and successes I will carry with me forever. West Ham United will always remain close to my heart and I have total confidence that the board of directors and interim chief executive officer Karim Virani will do everything they can to take the club forward in the right direction. and I wish everyone connected with the club every success in
the future. I'll be not making further public comment at this stage, but I reserve all legal rights available to me in relation to any false or defamatory allegations. Uh let's talk to uh Dan Lawless from uh West Ham TV. Dan, how are you? Thanks for coming on. How's it going, guys? Yeah, not too bad. I'm I'm still in shock to be honest. Yeah, I was not expecting that today and Saturday afternoon. So, um but yeah, not bad. Um yeah, so obviously look, we don't get super liable and we don't really want to talk about the allegations. I want to talk about how he and uh Karen Brady have run the club. I know she left earlier and actually them leaving. What as a fan, taking the allegations aside, as a
football fan, how as a West Ham, how do you feel that he is not in charge of your club now? Yeah, I mean it's it's great news. It's the news that we've been dreaming of for so long. You know, better part of 10 years, you know, we've been waiting for this day now. It's not a complete, you know, gone. He's still got his shares in the club. He's still a equal or majority shareholder with Daniel Katinsky, but he's stepped down as the chairman as director of WH Holdings and West Ham United Football Club, which is a big step forward. It is huge. We wanted Brady out as well. She went. Now Sullivan, it's a step forward to getting what we've wanted. So he's no longer in charge of the club. He's no longer meddling with transfers like he has
season after season. He is going to have nothing to do with the operations of the club and he has run this club absolutely shambolically year after year. And it is why we're in the mess we're in because of how he's run the club. and the fact that he's been removed from any involvement is a massive positive if you're a West Ham fan. So I could not be more happier. Yeah. I the what I hear from West Ham fans is like other you know sort of football has changed right in the last 20 30 years and how you have to run a club and recruitment has become much more professional and you look at West Ham's recruitment especially and how that has been done and how shambolically that's been done. Yeah. And that has been such a massive that is one of
the biggest reason probably the biggest reason why you are in the championship next year. Yeah, 100%. And one of the roles that they didn't write that he stepped down from was his role as director of football that he made himself after we'd got rid of Tim Sten and he took that over. He had interfered and meddled in transfers, the signing of players. He had his favorite agents that he would go to constantly. He would hand sort of pick players and just give them to managers. Big Sam confirmed that he would get presents where he would just go and uh find a player. He'd have his sons recommending players because they liked him on FIFA or Football Manager and he would go and get players
in that way. And what it meant was we had a disjointed just transfer policy. We would have Moyes players, Sullivan players, Stson players. If listen you whe if you own a football club just because you own it doesn't mean you have an expertise in football. A lot of clubs have a structure and have football people involved. He has no background or qualification to be choosing players for this football team at all. So yeah that's big. So what do you want now? Yeah. What do fans want now? Do owners go you want to be sold? What is it next? Well, this is what we're hoping is that it is a step towards a sale. Um, you know, like I said, it is such a sensitive thing to talk about and there's so little we can say, but if
you've got to go and deal with these sort of uh this situation, this legal battle, I mean, that is that we know it's it's a long taxing situation really and a costly one. So, what we'd hope is that he would have want to put his full attention on that and sell his shares. You know, that's what I'm I'm hoping a full sale. We've got Daniel Katinsky who's been up in his shares uh I think to become joint equal ownership shareholder with Sullivan. So, look, he may look and push for a full takeover. I think with this going on, the value of those shares with us in the championship and what's going on is probably a worth a lot less. So, we're hoping now that there's someone out there that is ready to strike while
someone's at their weakest. you know, when you're going to do a takeover of a business, you know, you want to take them when they're at their weakest, when their shares are worth the less. So, I'm hoping it means we get the take. I think we've been rumored in link with Amanda Steve, you know, who went in and helped facilitate Newcastle. Yeah. So, if she can see and smell blood and go, "Yes, now it's right. Now, I'm going to go in and get the best value and get those shares." I think there's never been a better time for us to get a takeover. He's never been more vulnerable. So, and I suppose it's a tricky Sorry, Dan.
It's a tricky, you know, that the timing is tricky. It's tricky because you don't know who's going to leave, right? You know, lots of your players will leave. Your best players will probably leave. Who are you going to stay? What your rebuild is for the championship? Do you are the people that are now in charge, do you have faith that they will be able to do that job? Because, you know, someone buying a club is fine, but that's not going to happen in the next month or two, is it? Right. So like are you confident now or more confident the people in charge will be able to do that transition? Yeah I you know I'm more confident in terms of the people that are there. So at the moment Nuno is going to be the de facto sort of transfer chief when it
comes to picking players and things like that. We've been rumored with a director of football coming in that I heard was imminent. It's not happened yet. So at the moment it seems to be Nuno and maybe the current board that are left that he'll have to answer to. So I'm more confident that they can now do it without any interference. It's just going to be now of a case of the funds. We have to raise around £150 million to you know deal with the debts that we've got before we can start to look to buy players. Now, I did a show yesterday and we was talking about the potential of forcing this forcing Katinsky and Sullivan to actually dip their hand in their pockets because if they invest their own money, it would alleviate a
lot of that financial burden that we've got to deal with. Obviously, that's not going to happen on Sullivan's end. Now, I'll be interested to see if Katinsky is now going to put his hand in his pocket because he's always been reluctant to do it if Sullivan wouldn't do it, you know, because they're joint chairman. It's like, well, I'm not going to invest if you're not going to invest. So, that is a big question of what's going to happen to us on a financial level. That's the sort of concern because we are in a state of limbo. We had Karen, not just Karen Brady left, near enough all our executives left with her, you know, just before the end of the season. So, we are in this state of
transition, this state of limbo, and we need to act quickly, start hiring the right people, and really go aggressive in this transfer window. get the most money we can for the players we're selling and try and get some good buys. Uh, thank you, Dad. Thanks for coming on. Special short notice.
