David Sullivan blasts Birmingham City as West Ham United chief goes on multi-million rant
West Ham owner David Sullivan has blasted former club Birmingham City for their “incompetence” after voting against a new payment plan to help the EFL.
The Premier League and EFL failed to agree earlier this month on sending funds down the pyramid, with the Hammers one of the clubs to vote against the deal, sparking outrage among the community.
And in an interview with The Sun (29 March), the former Blues and current Irons owner explained his decision and used his former club as an example of why it wouldn’t be fair to Premier League clubs to agree to the new terms.
“The flaw in the system is the Championship,” he said. “These clubs are having financial problems because they’re paying too high wages and agent fees and some have managers on £1m a year.
“If you look at Serie B [Italy’s second tier], the managers don’t earn that nor are players on £30,000, £40,000 a week.
“If the EFL can’t work with the funds we give them now, what suggests they can work with another £50m or £100m? They should manage their finances better and stop paying silly money. But they don’t want to because they’re competing to get into the Premier League.
“If we give to the EFL what they want, in five years we’ll be exactly where we are today.
“Some EFL owners are richer than those in the Premier League. Yet some clubs have got into trouble because their owners have gone for promotion but got fed up.
“Then there’s my old club, Birmingham. They sacked a good manager, John Eustace, when they were on the verge of the play-offs to bring in a flagship name in Wayne Rooney. It messed it up.
“Why should we subsidise their incompetence?”
Does David Sullivan have a point or are West Ham just stingy?
There is certainly some truth to what Sullivan is saying about clubs being held accountable and managing their finances better, but also these smaller clubs need help.
Birmingham obviously brought in super rich new owners and were trying to be ambitious by bringing in Wayne Rooney, but it went down the drain and they should now have to deal with the consequences of those decisions.
Being bailed out by Premier League clubs isn’t fair, but the money travelling down the pyramid is why the English leagues are the most competitive and entertaining in the world.
There needs to be an agreement found between the leagues that suits everyone, but West Ham shouldn’t feel pressured to accept a deal they don’t feel is right for them.
Ultimately Sullivan is both right and wrong, and West Ham are being stingy but it’s their right to do so and Championship clubs do need to manage themselves better.
In other West Ham news, Gary Neville tips Hammers to replace David Moyes with job “sought after”.
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