Playboys

This year's worst kept secret.... Gold and Sullivan's takeover of West Ham. David Gold and David Sullivan have bought 50% of West Ham giving them operational control and they have put a move to the Olympic Stadium at the top of their agenda. Interesting move and also odd that the pair suggested they would reduce admission prices if they moved to Stratford as that was the opposite of what they did at their previous club when they expanded St Andrews ground capacity.

Hammers' fans won't be cheered by the fact that Gold and Sullivan took Birmingham down to the 3rd tier in their first two seasons of ownership. What David Sullivan did disclose yesterday was the extent of West Ham's debt. £110m of which £20m is owed to Sheffield United, another £20m on outstanding transfer fees and then £2m to Alan Curbishley, someone Sullivan tried on numerous occasions to bring to St Andrews from Charlton. Then the banks are owed £50m, all in all some very bad housekeeping on the current and previous owners part. I wonder what a certain Terry Brown makes of all this. Brown walked away with £33.4m in 2006.

These debts pale into comparison though when compared to Man United's estimated debt of £716.5m. It recently came to light that Aon paid £37m to United upfront for shirt sponsorship that doesn't even start until August. What Charlton could do with a piece of that, blimey what I could do with some of that. That £37m will be lost on interest payments alone.

Gold and Sullivan are rich but they are not Arab princes dripping in gold. They need to secure some further short-term investment to deliver their promises of no one being sold in this window and also to pay some discontented creditors, Curbs being one of them. I had to laugh though at Sullivan sat there in a 'I'm not really a porn baron mauve jacket' declaring his love but not disclosing what him, Gold and Karren Brady will pay themselves at Upton Park.

In the last season at St Andrews Sullivan received an annual fee of £280,000 while Ralph and David Gold’s benefits included annual payments of £140,000 each to Gold Group International Ltd. Brady is still receiving some contractual benefits from Birmingham but last season paid herself a salary of £179,372 plus a bonus of £260,000.

Anyway we were only at best a bartering tool and as I have stated before on here I wasn't keen on them sullying our doorstep. The Academy and Knickerbox probably suit each other.

In the Porn King's first week at the helm(et) we have seen some mixed messages. First they asked fellow bidder Air Asia founder Tony Fernandes to put some money in to the club, which he declined. Then in a real surprise they asked Curbishley to reinvest the £2m he is owed. Almost on the same day Sullivan said that they planned to pay £100,000 a week to a new player (that will piss off Carlton Cole). I just hope for every Hammers' fan's sake that is not Benni McCarthy. Other target Eidur Gudjohnsen has turned his back on the east-end and signed for Spurs on loan after he passed a medical at Chadwell Heath. Why does a brown envelope stuffed with used fivers come to mind?

David Sullivan was quoted recently saying that a Premier League club will go bust. He was probably thinking that as he was studying the due diligence of some of Peter Storrie's old tax returns! Pompey are in all kinds of problems with Sol Campbell adding to their woes claiming he is owed £1.7m in image rights and bonus payments. A class move from a bloke who walked out on his contract at Notts County.

Portsmouth are fighting a winding-up petition from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (they've been busy issuing a lot of writs to football clubs recently) and are teetering on the brink of administration, which would result in a 9-point deduction and I actually wonder if the Premier League even care.

Meanwhile there are football clubs beyond the Premier League who are in a right two and eight. Crystal Palace entered adminstration on Tuesday and now face a relegation battle without some of their best young players. Cardiff City who have an even much better chance of promotion could be next.