DAVID GOLD'S HAMMER TIME

UPTON SPARK - David Gold and David Sullivan are West Ham fans

All change for Birmingham owners as sale nears

£2.8BILLION - THE PREMIER LEAGUE DEBT

Foreign owners ready to pump millions in to top-flight clubs

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By ROB SHEPHERD, 23/08/2009

DAVID GOLD and David Sullivan will step up their bid to buy West Ham next week.

Gold and Sullivan have agreed the £80million sale of Birmingham to Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung.

Now that a £3m down-payment has been made it looks like that deal will go through, which frees Gold and Sullivan to move for the Hammers.

The pair once owned a 29.9 per cent stake in the club but have been in charge of Birmingham for the past 16 years.

Both men live near West Ham and declare themselves as fans - but are seeking a cut-price deal.

The pair value the club at £90m but in that any buyer would have to take over debts of nearly £50m, they should only have to pay £40m.

The club's ownership is in a state of flux following the collapse of former owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson's business empire.

The current owners, Icelandic asset management company CB Holdings, value West Ham at £120m.

Your comments

This article has 7 comments

This is the best thing that's happened at Blues for a long time. Sullivan will slowly sell the best players at West Ham and then replace them with cheap rubbish. Yes they did build Birmingham up (it took years) but they proved by our last 2 visits to the prem they hadn't got the financial clout to compete with the big boys and relegation swiftly followed. Get ready for Sullivans BS Hammers fans! I look forward to see who your big money "mystery" signing at the start of next season will be. This year it was Vierra for us! It will probably be Zidane for you guys. LOL.

By brumsfinest.. Posted August 24 2009 at 4:56 AM.

If the Gold brothers and Sullivan do depart St Andrews, as a bluenose of over 50 years,I think that we owe them a big thank you for their work over the last 15 or so years. Just think what a state the club and stadium were in when they arrived. Premiership then? Extinction more likely! Best of luck to owners old and new

By J.WOODFIELD.. Posted August 23 2009 at 3:47 PM.

please keep those 2 away from the hammers

By Jonjo.. Posted August 23 2009 at 9:54 AM.

i understand your view bluenose, but the pair of them have been hammers fans for years so you never know they mit spend some money, i dont mean the millions that city have spent but just enough for 2 or 3 good signings.

By shaun.. Posted August 23 2009 at 9:39 AM.

As a Blues supporter who has lived through the Sullivan and Gold era , I can tell you that if you expect them to spend big money you will be disappointed . They will treat it as a business , you will never go bust but you won't compete with the big boys either . Sullivan is famous for bleating "The fans want me to spend my childrens inheritance "

By Bluenose.. Posted August 23 2009 at 9:17 AM.

This seems ridiculous. These guys have been trying to sell Birmingham for 3 years, because they cant afford to finance a Premiership side, by their own admission. So how are they going to finance West Ham?

By Lawro.. Posted August 23 2009 at 9:15 AM.

hope the deal goes though, been a hammers fan for nearly 15 years and in the time the club has never been stable, but hoping with gold and sullivan we can look on the the future and the money for some players, COME ON YOU HAMMERS KICK SPURS INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK.

By shaun.. Posted August 23 2009 at 8:11 AM.

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