West Ham United 25/26 relegation thread

[muskie]

Odds slashed from 5/1 to 7/2.

Watch this space.

I think we're fucked.

[stubbo-admin]

Intermediaries get payments perfectly legitimately. Sullivan could totally legitimately insert himself as a consultant to an intermediary in a transfer deal via a registered Ltd Co. 

We know his favoured agents are Salthouse and Silkman....you'd want to look at payments they make to third parties to see if it was really happening or not. 

I'm just saying what has been 'alledged' previously, and why the focus on favoured agents could work in his favour.

Obviously we know his primary method of extracting cashflow from the Club to himself personally has been through interest-bearing loans. 

[Far Cough UKunt]

The game is awash with money, to say there is no dodgy deals going on is extremely naive.

But carry on believing everything is above board.

[Westside]

Do you think other clubs would be complict in back handers, dodgy dealings and bungs on transfers? They are so closely monitored, nobody wants to be found out and whacked

with points deductions and other sanctions. We are long past vintage Redkanpp bungs scenario.. Don't forget when we sold Mascherano to the bin dippers, they grassed us up, as they thought there was something wrong

with his 3rd party ownership status in his contract with us, which led to all the legal cases against us.

[goose]

Make a good point there. Of that £40M sale I think just £15M went towards 'conversion' costs of the Shithole. Add that to the leeching interest rate amongst other factors and it is clear they do take a pretty penny out of our Club.

 

He may well have trousered money from the Upton Park sale, difficult to prove. The proceeds went into the club. However, I've asked the specific questuion of how he is/will trouser money on player sales in the future which nobody has answered.

The suggestion has always been he would do it through a 'finders fee' paid to him via a favoured third party/intermediary, with the fee to him built into the intermediaries fee.

E.g. the Club insert a favoured agent into the deal for a sale, the agent gets a chunk of the cash (say 5m) as opposed to that amount going to the Club, and them that agent as a separate transaction pays Sullivan a consultancy fee for bringing them the deal.

This can work in both directions (buying and selling) as long as the agent on the WHU side is in league with Sullivan.

The modern day equivalent of the brown paper bag.

Do you suppose this is done in cash?

[stubbo-admin]

He has trousered money, done it with the sale of Upton Park.  

Make a good point there. Of that £40M sale I think just £15M went towards 'conversion' costs of the Shithole. Add that to the leeching interest rate amongst other factors and it is clear they do take a pretty penny out of our Club.

 

He may well have trousered money from the Upton Park sale, difficult to prove. The proceeds went into the club. However, I've asked the specific questuion of how he is/will trouser money on player sales in the future which nobody has answered.

The suggestion has always been he would do it through a 'finders fee' paid to him via a favoured third party/intermediary, with the fee to him built into the intermediaries fee.

E.g. the Club insert a favoured agent into the deal for a sale, the agent gets a chunk of the cash (say 5m) as opposed to that amount going to the Club, and them that agent as a separate transaction pays Sullivan a consultancy fee for bringing them the deal.

This can work in both directions (buying and selling) as long as the agent on the WHU side is in league with Sullivan.

The modern day equivalent of the brown paper bag.

[cup of tea]

Deloitte used to have a cracking Xmas party every year in a marquee in Embankment gardens in the 90s when I worked for them.

Free bar and food.

That is all

[Westside]

" you are pissing in the wind if you think all our accounts are legit". 

I suggest you contact the club auditors, Deloittes, with your concerns. Or repeat that opinion, in the public domain under your own name and see what the reactions of Deloittes are.

Just do some research. There has been two reports posted in the past few weeks of our accounts which are interesting. 


You can then research Delliottes and see theyve been investigated and had some scandals this year. 

 

 

You think Deloittes, an accounting firm with a UK turnover, just south of £6 billion, is going to sell its soul to the devil, for a measly combined £115k annual audit and consultancy fee that it gest from West Ham?

Especially with the scrutiny football accounts get now with PSR and a dedicated HMRC football tax unit? You don't think that unit gets a breakdown

of transfer payments in one club and checks to the sale proceeds in the selling club?What next? The world is flat, space doesn't exist?

[goose]

Share the links then Rossal.
I’m assuming these reports accuse Sullivan of stealing money from the club?

as Westside said, latest set of accounts are due soon. They will tell a very depressing story, tempered slightly by the sale of the ladies team (well half of it anyway).

[Rossal]

" you are pissing in the wind if you think all our accounts are legit". 

I suggest you contact the club auditors, Deloittes, with your concerns. Or repeat that opinion, in the public domain under your own name and see what the reactions of Deloittes are.

Just do some research. There has been two reports posted in the past few weeks of our accounts which are interesting. 


You can then research Delliottes and see theyve been investigated and had some scandals this year. 

[Westside]

" you are pissing in the wind if you think all our accounts are legit". 

I suggest you contact the club auditors, Deloittes, with your concerns. Or repeat that opinion, in the public domain under your own name and see what the reactions of Deloittes are.

[Massive Attack]

Yeah that was others discussing it, I just remember those leeching wankers eager on selling the place before finding out they got £40M which stank like fuck as we then moved in to a rented high capacity stadium on peppercorn rent of about £2.5M a year at the time we moved in.

[Keep dreaming]

The sale of Upton park went to pey shareholders loans and to secure the loan of the shitbowl.

Nothing was pent into players...

And this highlights Sullivan's tenure. Small pocket Scrooge fit for championship or less

[Westside]

 

To trouser the profit on player sales, via interest on loans, he would have to lend the club an insane amount of money. If he wanted to take out say £50 million a year in interest, he'd have to lend the club a £ billion first, at 5% annually. Doubt he has the resources or inclination to do that.

He has trousered money, done it with the sale of Upton Park.  

Make a good point there. Of that £40M sale I think just £15M went towards 'conversion' costs of the Shithole. Add that to the leeching interest rate amongst other factors and it is clear they do take a pretty penny out of our Club.

 

 

He may well have trousered money from the Upton Park sale, difficult to prove. The proceeds went into the club. However, I've asked the specific questuion of how he is/will trouser money on player sales in the future which nobody has answered.

[Keep dreaming]

Not sure how reliable AI is, but this is what I got from this simple answer:

how much money does David Sullivan make per year from West Ham United FC, and how much money has he as an owner put into the club from his own wealth

------

David Sullivan does not take a salary or receive dividends from West Ham United FC. His investment in the club has primarily been through shareholder loans and share purchases, with a net investment estimated at around £15 million over a 15-year period as of May 2025. 

Owners David Sullivan and the late David Gold have never been paid a salary or dividend from West Ham United. However, they did collect significant interest payments on the loans they provided to the club, totaling approximately £23.3 million over the years. 

Share Purchases: Sullivan has paid a net of approximately £26.85 million through share purchases.Loans: The owners provided shareholder loans, which at one point reached £49.2 million by the end of the 2013/14 season.
 Net Investment: Accounting for money put in (loans and shares) and money taken out (interest payments), Sullivan's total net investment is estimated to be around £15 million. 
 This is considered a relatively low investment compared to other Premier League owners. The current ownership structure is complex, with Daniel Kretinsky acquiring a 27% stake in 2021, which injected an additional £125 million of equity used to invest in the playing squad and repay the owners' loans. 

[Massive Attack]

There's plenty of money connected to player sales that would wipe out much of the debt issues. I won't pay too much attention to the debt spinning bollocks that'll be relentless crap emanating from the Porn Fort.

[Sir Alf]

Yep the “debt” propaganda will be relentless from now on. Aside from Bowen, Paqueta, Todibo being sold it will justify why we had no choice but sell Fernandes, Magassa and Diouf even though it may have been possible to try keep them for a season.

Those Brum fans words 15 years ago were a dark warning about our new owners. It took a while but having Sullivan running the show has left the club in ruins.

 

[Massive Attack]

And by lending money to the club with insane interest 

 

To trouser the profit on player sales, via interest on loans, he would have to lend the club an insane amount of money. If he wanted to take out say £50 million a year in interest, he'd have to lend the club a £ billion first, at 5% annually. Doubt he has the resources or inclination to do that.

He has trousered money, done it with the sale of Upton Park.  

Make a good point there. Of that £40M sale I think just £15M went towards 'conversion' costs of the Shithole. Add that to the leeching interest rate amongst other factors and it is clear they do take a pretty penny out of our Club.

[Rossal]

Right on cue, his gimp Whetstone tweets that our accounts for the end of 24/25 show losses of £100m and this season on track for the same. 

Lining things up to sell sell sell or not spend in Jan 

[Rossal]

How exactly is he going to "pocket the cash" from player sales?
(spoiler alert - he can't)

the only way Sullivan makes any money is by selling his shares.
40 odd % of £800m is worth much more than 40 odd % of £300m.





 

And by lending money to the club with insane interest 

 

To trouser the profit on player sales, via interest on loans, he would have to lend the club an insane amount of money. If he wanted to take out say £50 million a year in interest, he'd have to lend the club a £ billion first, at 5% annually. Doubt he has the resources or inclination to do that.

He has trousered money, done it with the sale of Upton Park.  Does it with his shady agent mates.  He'll do it again once we go down. The bloke is a slimy weasel, you are pissing in the wind if you think all our accounts are legit and all the money earned has been reinvested into the club. 

I guess if he is so keen to stay up he will have to find a minimum of £30 million this month, probably closer to £50m to bulk out the squad with enough quality to give us a chance.   Let's see if he'll get his chequebook out....... I am sceptical. 

[Westside]

How exactly is he going to "pocket the cash" from player sales?
(spoiler alert - he can't)

the only way Sullivan makes any money is by selling his shares.
40 odd % of £800m is worth much more than 40 odd % of £300m.




 

And by lending money to the club with insane interest 

 

 

To trouser the profit on player sales, via interest on loans, he would have to lend the club an insane amount of money. If he wanted to take out say £50 million a year in interest, he'd have to lend the club a £ billion first, at 5% annually. Doubt he has the resources or inclination to do that.

[Westside]

When at the Boleyn when they first bought us on the cheap the spivs chucked on interest like you say, yet acted lile they were doing us a massive favour! Can't remember exactly how much it was but 9% sounds about right. Cheeky leeching cunts.

The interest rate in the earleir years was 6 - 7%. They didn't take the interest on the drip, but only when the loans were repaid.

Better than borrowing from the banks who would have wanted security, or place some restrcitive covenants on the club. Especially as our finances were very poor at the time. Those loans may have saved us from administration. 

Don't mind them trying to be businessmen, but don't pretend to be fans, when other clubs fan owners lend money interest free.

[El Scorchio]

the clubs most valuable asset is premier league membership. 

That's how I understand it. They wanted the Stadium on the cheap I reckon which hasnt materialised so now their biggest asset is the Premier League membership. Player sales will boost it but as we are hurtling towards a probable relegation, their valuations will be shaved off. The Training Grounds are tinpot. The membership and all that brings like TV/Sponsorship Etc is what matters most and they're on course to currently losing it.

 

 

Too right. I reckon the prospect of getting their hands on the stadium for peanuts after the government gets fed up of it is the only thing keeping them clinging on with their greasy fingers. If not forced out before, I reckon they sell up immediately or as soon ans they are allowed after getting it. 

Kretinsky is known for buying broken businesses on the cheap isn’t he? Wonder if he’s just twiddling his thumbs until Sullivan fully digs his own grave before swooping on the cheap. Which is pretty cunty making us all suffer in the meantime but I guess from a cold hard business POV it makes sense. I just don’t understand why he’d buy in the amount he has and negotiate a fixed price only to sit there when the shares needed to take over are up for grabs. 

Has to be all about acquiring the stadium. Just wonder if and when the government will actually crack. 

[Massive Attack]

When at the Boleyn when they first bought us on the cheap the spivs chucked on interest like you say, yet acted lile they were doing us a massive favour! Can't remember exactly how much it was but 9% sounds about right. Cheeky leeching cunts.

[El Scorchio]

They did do this in the past. 9% was it? But not for a long time. Doesn’t change the fact they ‘never took a penny in wages’ but leeched millions out of the club still, when it was the norm ‘I believe’ for owners to make interest free loans. 

They just get payday loans from other places now. Still run in farcical fashion in tandem with the crazy unsustainable money drain buy expensive sell cheap or give away for free transfer policy which he thinks is a suitable way to run a football club flying in the face of the undoubted proof that it isn’t, looking at several other clubs who are flourishing with other sustainable business models and philosophies. 

[Massive Attack]

the clubs most valuable asset is premier league membership. 

That's how I understand it. They wanted the Stadium on the cheap I reckon which hasnt materialised so now their biggest asset is the Premier League membership. Player sales will boost it but as we are hurtling towards a probable relegation, their valuations will be shaved off. The Training Grounds are tinpot. The membership and all that brings like TV/Sponsorship Etc is what matters most and they're on course to currently losing it.