{"id":1009701,"date":"2026-06-06T18:52:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1009701\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T18:52:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:52:20","slug":"everything-we-know-as-ex-west-ham-chair-faces-serious-historic-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1009701\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything we know as ex-West Ham chair faces \u2018serious historic allegations’"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Sullivan has stepped down as joint chairman of West Ham United<\/a> with immediate effect, threatening legal action against the media in light of \u201cserious historic allegations\u201d set to be revealed on Monday.<\/p>\n

The 77-year-old is leaving his role of 16 years to fight what he called \u201cfalse allegations\u201d about his private life, following a joint investigation by the BBC and The Times into Sullivan\u2019s \u201cbehaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n

Having made his fortune in the pornography industry and then newspapers through the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport titles, Sullivan completed a takeover of West Ham in 2010 with his business partner David Gold<\/a>, who died in 2023, after the pair sold their shares in Birmingham City.<\/p>\n

Sullivan and his fellow executives\u2019 relationship with West Ham fans became increasingly fractious<\/a> over the course of their tenure at the east London club. The decision to relocate from Upton Park to the former Olympic Stadium<\/a> in 2016 a hugely unpopular one with many supporters.<\/p>\n

That move was led by Karren Brady, who followed Sullivan and Gold from Birmingham and stepped down from her role as West Ham\u2019s vice-chair in April amid a challenging season which ultimately ended in the club\u2019s relegation from the Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Serious allegations\u2019 emerge, with Panorama documentary imminent<\/p>\n

The allegations against Sullivan relate to the former chairman\u2019s \u201cbehaviour,\u201d according to the BBC.<\/p>\n

In a statement shared with The i Paper on Saturday, the broadcaster said: \u201cBBC Panorama and The Times newspaper have been working together on a joint investigation into the behaviour of David Sullivan, who has announced he is stepping down as joint chair and director of West Ham United FC.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver decades, he\u2019s made millions from pornography, newspapers, and football. The investigation is due to be broadcast and published on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a 29-minute BBC Panorama episode, initially titled only as an \u201cinvestigative documentary\u201d, which is set to air on BBC One at 8pm on Monday, 8 June.<\/p>\n

The BBC would not comment further regarding the nature of the allegations made against Sullivan, but statements from both Sullivan and West Ham suggested they were related to the Welsh businessman\u2019s \u201cpersonal life\u201d rather than his position within the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is understood none of the allegations relate to West Ham United or any of its operations,\u201d the club\u2019s statement said, announcing that Sullivan had resigned \u201chaving been made aware of the impending publication of serious historic allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of these allegations relate to my more than 30 years in football,\u201d Sullivan said in his own statement, announcing that his \u201cincredibly painful decision\u201d to step down was made \u201cout of love, respect, and responsibility toward a football club and a fan base that deserve absolute unity and focus moving forward\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cAt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

West Ham said they would give \u201can update on the future structure of the board of directors in due course, but will make no further comment at this time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Czech businessman Daniel K\u0159et\u00ednsk\u00fd bought a 27 per cent stake in the club in 2021 and is reportedly set to increase his stake, while interim chief executive officer Karim Virani \u2013 reporting into the current board of directors \u2013 will continue to be responsible for leading the club\u2019s day-to-day operations.<\/p>\n

Sullivan \u2018will be suing the BBC\u2019<\/p>\n

In his resignation statement, Sullivan vowed to sue the BBC and \u201cany other media outlet that repeats libelous [sic] allegations\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statement began: \u201cI have recently become aware that factually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations concerning my personal life are due to be broadcast and published.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claiming that the \u201cfalse allegations\u201d levelled against him had been \u201csensationalised by the media\u201d, Sullivan continued: \u201cI believe that the entire process has been fundamentally unfair and completely lacking in any due impartiality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be suing the BBC for libel, along with any other media outlet that repeats any libelous allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cAfter a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me. I categorically deny these claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am 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 am absolutely not the person the media has decided to paint me as.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sullivan concluded by saying he was \u201cstepping down to apply my full energy and attention on fighting these false allegations\u201d and declined to make further comment at this stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Sullivan has stepped down as joint chairman of West Ham United with immediate effect, threatening legal action…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1009702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7820],"tags":[192,855,748,393,4884,257,109263,16,15,11846],"class_list":["post-1009701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-birmingham","tag-bbc","tag-birmingham","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-london","tag-panorama","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-west-ham-united-fc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116704676982027647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1009701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1009702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1009701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1009701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1009701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}