West Ham Faces Record Crowd Amid Sullivan Controversy
West Ham are braced for a record-breaking Carabao Cup crowd on Saturday – and for the return of David Sullivan to London Stadium against the advice of the venue’s own operators.
The 77-year-old, who resigned as co-chair in June, is expected to attend the first-round tie against Portsmouth despite a recommendation that he stay away from home games because of fears over fan unrest.
Sullivan, who retains a 38.8% stake and remains West Ham’s major shareholder, has been accused by seven women of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour in a joint BBC Panorama and The Times investigation. He has categorically denied the allegations.
Stadium chiefs urge absence
On Monday, a London Stadium spokesperson confirmed they had “recommended” to the club that Sullivan does not attend matches for the time being. The concern is not subtle: a volatile atmosphere, fuelled by serious allegations and years of supporter anger over his stewardship, erupting in front of tens of thousands.
London Stadium has asked West Ham to give advance notice of any planned visit by Sullivan so it can put extra safety and operational measures in place. That request underlines the scale of the risk they believe his presence now carries.
Saturday’s game will be West Ham’s first since the allegations became public. The club know the optics: a high-profile cup tie, a huge crowd, and an owner at the centre of a safeguarding storm walking back into the spotlight.
Safeguarding ban revealed
The Panorama and Times investigation also exposed that Sullivan has been barred from contact with West Ham’s women’s and youth teams for the past three years on safeguarding grounds.
That ban followed a historical allegation about his conduct raised with the Football Association in 2023. Sullivan has previously said the allegation was false.
London Stadium officials were unaware of those restrictions until the BBC’s report. For the venue now trying to manage his attendance, that revelation has added another layer of unease.
Fan anger and a club in flux
Sullivan was already a deeply divisive figure among West Ham supporters. Long before the recent investigation, he had faced fierce criticism and abuse over his running of the club, culminating in relegation to the Championship last season – their first drop since 2011.
On the pitch, the picture looks calmer. Nuno Espirito Santo has committed his future, as has captain Jarrod Bowen, and there is a sense of stability in the dressing room after a turbulent period.
Off the pitch, chaos still lurks in the boardroom.
The Gold shares, Kretinsky and a shifting power map
The club’s ownership structure is in flux. Vanessa Gold, daughter of the late co-chair David Gold, had initially moved towards selling part of her stake to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
That path has dramatically changed. Instead of a partial sale, she has agreed to sell her entire 25.1% holding to Amanda Staveley, best known as the public face of the Saudi Arabia-backed takeover at Newcastle.
Just as that deal reshaped expectations, Kretinsky altered the equation again by selling a small slice of his own stake, taking his shareholding below 25%.
That drop matters. Under West Ham’s pre-emption rights rules, existing shareholders get first refusal on any shares that come up for sale. With Kretinsky now under the 25% threshold, he can move to buy Gold’s shares without triggering another clause that would force him to bid for the rest of the club.
If he chooses to act, he would become West Ham’s largest shareholder – a power shift achieved without a full takeover and without removing Sullivan entirely from the picture.
Cup tie under the spotlight
Against this backdrop, Portsmouth arrive for what is, on paper, a straightforward Carabao Cup first-round tie between two Championship clubs. In reality, it will unfold under a glare usually reserved for the latter stages of the competition.
Kick-off is at 15:00 BST, and the crowd will be vast. With 55,000 season tickets sold for the new campaign, West Ham expect to set an attendance record for an EFL Cup first-round fixture.
The football will share the stage with something more combustible: a fanbase that has long railed against its ownership, a major shareholder under intense scrutiny, and a club trying to project stability while the ground beneath it keeps shifting.
If Sullivan takes his seat, London Stadium will not just host a cup tie. It will become the theatre for the next act in a story that now stretches far beyond the pitch.
