£301 million in Debt

The owner of West Ham, Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, has slipped from being one of the richest men in the world to surely one of the world's poorest. Gudmundsson has told an Icelandic newspaper that he is £301 million pound in debt.

The outcome of this, for West Ham, will be that at the end of the season the club will come under the control of Icelandic bank Straumur. The bank will then appoint a new board, although it is believed they will keep the existing executive team. However the club will be expected to be self-financing and will be run on a cost neutral basis until the economic cycle turns and West Ham can be sold at full market value.