Fernandes Bid Rejected

F1 Team Lotus boss Tony Fernandes has had an e-mailed offer to take over West Ham turned down.

Fernandes has been Tweeting a number of bizarre claims recently about his desire to buy West Ham. Today he Tweeted again saying,

"For all you West Ham fans an offer has gone to the present owners of West Ham. Let's see if they accept."

Many commentators have taken this latest move as an attempt by Fernandes to get a bit more publicity on the day that West Ham unveiled their new manager.

West Ham have acknowledged that they received an e-mail bid from Fernandes and that it has been rejected. David Sullivan said today,

"We have received an e-mail from Tony Fernandes regarding an offer for a share of the club which has immediately been rejected. He has announced this on Twitter and people can draw their own conclusions as to the seriousness of it from that.

"We are not looking to sell the club but, as we have always said, we would love co-investors to join us in rebuilding West Ham United, which has been our aim ever since we took charge back in January 2010.

"In the event that a serious investor came forward as was the case at Chelsea and Manchester City, we would naturally consider it for the good of the club - but this is certainly not the case in this instance.

"This kind of approach is very unhelpful when we have just made a big step forward as a club in our hope of returning to the Premier League, and it distracts from our main focus which is promotion."