West Ham United: David Sullivan reveals ‘big argument’ with Premier League rivals over EFL deal
David Sullivan has hit out at what he sees as the dual threats of paying for an EFL funding deal and an independent regulator on West Ham and the Premier League.
The Hammers chairman spoke to BBC Sport on 19 March in a rare public interview and railed against the prospect of intervention from Westminster watering down top flight clubs’ income to “ruin” the asset of the “best football in the world”.
And, with the breakdown of the football league’s expected £900million funding deal [BBC Sport, 11 March] only strengthening the resolve for a regulator to be formed he also complained about the EFL’s demands for more money, claiming it would never be enough and insisting they are supposed to be competitors, while revealing a “big argument” between Premier League clubs over who should pay what.
Sullivan said of the independent regulator: “The Premier League is the top league in the world. It is a big export – other countries want to buy it off us and we do very well in Europe generally.
“Anything to water down our income will make us less competitive. We may cease to be the top league so they may ruin an asset that we have.”
“You tend to put a regulator in when things are going very badly and something has to be done to sort it out. We have the best football in the world.”
And on the EFL deal he added: “You have two problems – what we give and who funds it? There is a big argument between the bottom 10, who want the top clubs to pay a lot more, and the top clubs want everyone to pay the same.
“Whatever we give won’t be enough for them [the EFL]. Tesco don’t give the small supermarket chain a subsidy.”
West Ham chief furious over threats to income
Karren Brady received an apology from Charlton after the club’s minority owner Charlie Methven targeted her during a rant where he accused West Ham of being ringleaders, with Crystal Palace, of the funding deal breaking down.
But Sullivan’s interview is unlikely to dissuade others from reaching a similar conclusion if he is willing to go public over his distain of anything that might threaten revenue streams at the London Stadium and elsewhere in the top flight.
On one level it is no surprise that the Irons chair doesn’t want a regulator to potentially reduce income just as the EFL deal would be a significant cost, when there might be another financial headache waiting next season already.
But he also won’t have done anything to dispel the view that football can’t regulate itself when he admits the Premier League are squabbling among themselves while the expected agreement fell through.
He is probably right that the regulator will bring with it a whole new set of issues, but equally when the wheels have already been set in motion towards it nothing in the failure to reach an agreement suggests the clubs can work such matters out without oversight.
And football is an ecosystem so while it might grate on the well-off clubs at the top end of the richest league in world football to have to pay extra to help ensure the sustainability of the pyramid it is probably the least bad option.
Everyone got upset about the proposed European Super League but pulling up the drawbridge in front of clubs that are outside the top flight currently is a similar move, and all the sides that are involved should realise they could be on the other side of the divide one day, not least those who have been as recently as a decade ago like the Hammers.
In other West Ham news, a striker’s agent claims “chances are high” he could move to England this summer after discussions were held over bringing him to the London Stadium.
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