West Ham Planned Fire Sale

David Sullivan says that West Ham's owners had plans for a player fire-sale if the club had not been sold in January.

"In case there wasn't a takeover ... we were told that it meant that £8 million worth of players had to be sold in January, which would have meant a player like Scott Parker or Carlton Cole going, or maybe even both.

"Then in the summer, the club would have needed to sell £16 million worth of players to carry on surviving, having budgeted to finish 10th in the Premier League, but it might have been more like £20 million if they had been relegated.

"It would have reached the stage where the club would have had no one left of any consequence, but when people are desperate they had to design desperate measures. For West Ham it wouldn't have been long before they would have run out of players to sell.

"We have already trimmed that down to £95 million, as we have paid off some of the debts with a few little deals, so slowly we are making some progress.

"But we have to look at the situation in realistic terms. This club had lost £20 million, £40 million and £20 million in the last three years and there are another £20 million losses this year.

"Ultimately we have to break even, but that is going to take some effort as we are heading for £20 million losses this year again. So, you can see the first big task is to stabilise the club to give it a brighter future.