01.02.10

West Ham have landed their THIRD striker of transfer deadline day - clinching the signature of former St Etienne striker Ilan Araujo.

The 29-year-old thrice-capped Brazilian follows Benni McCarthy and Mido as new arrivals at the club following a frantic day of negotiations at both Chadwell Heath and the Boleyn Ground.

McCarthy - who agreed terms last week - had his transfer confirmed just after lunch. A couple of hours later former Roma and Ajax striker Mido told waiting reporters that he had agreed a deal until the end of the current season.

Ilan, who terminated his contract with St Etienne last month also joins on a short-term deal until the end of the season.

News of the day 19.01.10:

DAVID SULLIVAN and David Gold have vowed to wheel and deal West Ham out of their financial mess.

The former Birmingham chiefs paid £52.5million for a 50 per cent controlling stake in the Hammers

but insist they are no plonkers.

The lifelong West Ham fans immediately pledged to:

·  Cut West Ham's crippling £110m debt

·  Back boss Gianfranco Zola

·  Not sell the club's star players

·  Keep the Hammers in the Premier League

·  Open the door for other investors to join their Upton Park revolution

·  Target a move into London's brand-new Olympic Stadium after 2012

·  Set a seven-year goal to qualify for the Champions League

·  Stay with the club until "they die"

The two Davids may not have arrived at Upton Park in a clapped-out Reliant Robin van, like the Trotter brothers in TV's Only Fools and Horses.

But their massive task in overhauling the debt-riddled club will need some haggling that even Del Boy would be proud of.

Gold and Sullivan have appointed themselves as joint chairmen of the club — while also recruiting their former Birmingham MD Karren Brady as vice-chairman.

Sullivan said: "There will be a lot of wheeling and dealing going on — and we're good at that.

"Our first priority has to be securing the Premier League status of West Ham.

"I believe the players at this club have shown great commitment in trying circumstances and the new board and I will get behind them in every way we can.


"Our long-term aim will be to put the club on a stronger financial footing. I believe with our new board we have the expertise and experience to do just that and bring the good times back to this great football club.

"We wouldn't buy this club if this wasn't West Ham.

"It makes no commercial sense for anyone to buy this club and it's amazing that two other people wanted to buy it.

"One is another West Ham supporter Tony Fernandes and the Italian Massimo Cellino.

"I'm not quite sure if he looked at the books properly, but if he looked at the books he might have walked away.

"We've paid down some of the debt and injected some working capital but there's still more than £100m of debt.

"In that there's £50m owed to banks, there's £40m owed to other clubs. There's not a penny to come in.

"The previous owners have borrowed against the next two years of season-ticket money. The sponsors have paid 70 per cent of their three years up front.

"In addition there's the club's settlement to former manager Alan Curbishley, so the real debt is about £110m."

The new Hammers owners have reassured fans that they have managed to avert the need to raise £20m in the next two transfer windows by selling star players, such as Scott Parker and England internationals Robert Green, Matthew Upson and Carlton Cole.

Had the takeover not gone through, Zola would have had to sell a player to raise £8m this month.

Gold said: "Up until a month ago you constantly read and saw on TV that the current owners would have to sell their best players to stay in business


We can reassure fans who were terrified that they were going to lose two or three of the best players that that is now not going to happen."

With the club in a financial mess, Sullivan hopes to attract a team of wealthy investors - to realise their ambition of making West Ham a force.

He said: "We own 50 per cent of the club but I have an option on the other 50. I would share that with David but I would like to have four or five West Ham supporters with lots of money to come in.

"The debts here are so large that most Englishmen can't carry them so we would like to share them with others and help take West Ham to the next level.

"The bank Straumur own the other 50 per cent right now and my option to buy is for anytime in the next four years.

"Our preferred option is that we find other people who want five or 10 per cent and we will go to Tony Fernandes, who was one of the others interested in buying the club."

Sullivan believes the club's future would be brighter if they could move to the Olympic stadium in East London after the Games in 2012.

He said: "We don't want to buy the Olympic stadium, we want to rent it.

"The Government promised to keep it alive for 30 years, it's going to cost them more to keep it alive. With us it's going to cost them nothing - we would pay the running costs.

"It is a priority for West Ham that we move to the Olympic Stadium, three miles from where we are now.

Karren Brady is set to be confirmed as West Ham United's new Chairman, according to reports - just months after landing a £1million severance package from her new employers.

40-year-old Brady, who spent 16 years at Birmingham City received a severance package worth in excess of seven figures from David Gold and David Sullivan when parting company with the Blues last October.

According to the Mirror, Brady received a year’s salary worth £179,372, a one-off bonus of £520,000 plus a bonus of £260,00 due to Birmingham's participation in the Premier League this season.

Additionally she was given 'use of an executive box for 12 months including cost of all food,drink and parking', 'two tickets in the directors’ box for each Birmingham away fixture for six months plus parking', 'use of a mobile telephone at Birmingham City's cost for a period of 12 months' plus 'private health insurance for herself and family'.

Should Brady - who is due to line up alongside Alan Sugar as his sidekick in the new series of TV show the Apprentice - be confirmed as a new appointment tomorrow, just three months after leaving the Midlands club, she can expect to pick up a salary in excess of that which she earned at Birmingham - plus a number of perks similar to those which she had previously enjoyed.

The mother-of-two also writes a column for the Sun, although it is unknown at this stage whether she would continue that should she land the Hammers role, as expected. It is a medium through which she has often been critical of West Ham in the past; as recently as October 2009 Brady referred to Hammers fans as 'disgraceful' for their part in the crowd disturbances that briefly interrupted the Carling Cup clash with Millwall earlier this season.

Three years ago, when Birmingham sold Matthew Upson to West Ham for £6million Brady said that she felt she had been 'mugged' by the Hammers, whilst adding a stinging rebuke of the current Hammers club captain.

Writing in her column on 2nd February 2007, Brady, who referred to Upson as 'the hangdog player', added that West Ham 'aren’t top four material or anything like it', continuing 'I wish Matthew well at Upton Park and I’ll give him a wave if we pass them by', referring to United's position as relegation favourites at the time of writing.

Ironically Upson, who has 15 months of his current contract at West Ham remaining has been cited as the one player most likely to leave the club in the January transfer window.

New joint Chairman David Sullivan has been speaking about his plans for West Ham United FC.

The new owner - who ended months of wrangling and speculation when he finally purchased 50% of the club late on Monday evening - revealed that he has a seven year business plan for the club that includes qualification for the Champions League within seven years.

Sullivan, speaking to Sky Sports this morning about the takeover, said: "We've got the club we always wanted. We've bought 50%; I bought it and David Gold came in very quickly. I have been negotiating for the last two months and it went on until midnight last night.

"It's nice to see we beat off two foreign buyers and bought it for Britain; it's nice to have an East End club owned by local people. It's where we were brought up and we're deeply and passionately involved with West Ham which is where we've always wanted to be.

"But from a business point of view, it's a serious mess - which we have to spell out to people. I don't think we would have bought it if we weren't West Ham fans."

Sullivan also revealed a string of plans for the club - which include ressurrecting the move to Stratford's Olympic Stadium, something that is bound to upset supporters keen to retain links with the Boleyn Ground, West Ham's home for the last 105 years.

"I hope the Government allow us to move to the Olympic Stadium," he said. "I hope all the people of London would support that move.

"We have a long term plan to be in the Champions League - although our short term plan is survival," he admitted. "But these are exciting times."

Confirming the new management structure, Sullivan added: "Myself and David Gold will be joint Chairman; Karren Brady will be Vice Chairman but everything else will remain the same."

A press conference will be held at the Boleyn Ground at 12:30pm to welcome the new owners to the club.

David Gold & David Sullivan are expected to be confirmed as the new joint owners of West Ham United, finally ending months of speculation.

Reports tonight suggests that the deal is on the verge of being rubber-stamped with a formal statement set to confirm the change of ownership to follow later this morning (Tuesday) - although the Intermarket-led consortium still claim to be in the running.

Although details of the deal remain sketchy at present it is thought that Gold & Sullivan would, as previously reported, take a majority 51% stake in the club, leaving CB Holding with the remaining 49% - a situation that has not exactly been welcomed by supporters desperate to see the end of the Icelandic influence that briefly threatened the club's very existence.

However with the former Birmingham City owners holding the majority share they would have full control of the club and it's finances - and hopefully a January transfer budget for Gianfranco Zola with which to boost his under-strength squad.

Zola, who has become increasingly disillusioned with life at the club in recent months is set to remain as the club's manager under Gold & Sullivan - despite earlier reports to the contrary.

The Italian is thought to have preferred Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes' bid - the pair met on several occasions in recent weeks - but will also be relieved that former colleague Massimo Cellino failed with his eleventh-hour offer. Zola would almost have certainly left the club had Cellino won the day.

Current CEO Scott Duxbury, who has held the fort almost single-handedly as West Ham lurched from one disaster to another in recent months is set to be replaced by Karren Brady, who worked alongside Gold & Sullivan at Birmingham for several years.

It is unknown at this stage whether Duxbury would be handed another post by the new owners or simply dismissed. Nick Igoe, the club's long-standing Finance Director is also thought to be under threat, as is Gianluca Nani - whilst current non-executive Chairman Andrew Bernhardt is likely to remain on the club's board in some capacity.

19.01.10

DAVID SULLIVAN has completed his takeover of West Ham.

The former Birmingham owner, who is working with David Gold again, fulfils a lifetime ambition by taking control of the East London outfit.

Several other bids were considered but, as reported in the News of the World on Sunday, Sullivan and Gold were in pole position to clinch the deal.

Sullivan has acquired 50 per cent and takes operational and commercial control of the Premier League outfit.

The Hammers are valued at £105million after talks were concluded late on Monday night.

Sullivan said: "I have been interested in running West Ham United for 20 years and I can't wait to start work.

"I enjoyed running Birmingham City for 16-and-half years, but everyone there knew my true love was always West Ham United.

"It will be an immense privilege to lead this great football club and more importantly its supporters.

"Our first priority has to be securing the Premier League status of West Ham.

"I believe the players at this club have shown great commitment in trying circumstances and the new board and I will get behind them in every way we can.

"We will also look to bring in new players to supplement the squad where needed once we have met with the manager."

Gold becomes joint-chairman with Karren Brady installed as vice-chairman.

Sullivan added: "I would like to thank former executive chairman Andrew Bernhardt and CB Holding who assumed control of the club in difficult circumstances through no fault of their own.

"Our long-term aim will be to put the club on a stronger financial footing. I believe with our new board we have the expertise and experience to do just that and bring the good times back to this great football club.

"West Ham United need stability after all the recent upheavals. We appointed four managers and parted company with two at Birmingham in 16 years. We believe in our managers and give them the time and support they need.

"The club is now back in the hands of East Enders, people who understand the community and its passion for the Hammers. I believe that depth of feeling will also bring us through what has been a difficult period."

Sullivan pledged his support for current manager Gianfranco Zola, even though the Hammers are facing a battle against relegation.

"He is staying," said Sullivan. "And I will be sitting down with him tonight to work on some transfers as we realise as fans that the team needs a few additions."