David Sullivan and Karren Brady might not *quite* be the worst owners in English football. But they are almost certainly the most charmless.
Having taken over at West Ham in 2010, alongside the now-deceased David Gold, Sullivan and Brady have systematically stripped the club of its identity.
The original sin remains leaving Upton Park for a repurposed athletics stadium 10 years ago; Hammers fans were promised ‘a world-class team for a world-class stadium’ and will likely be hosting Lincoln City in the league next season.
This new stadium was immediately paired with a garish new club badge including a shoehorned ‘London’, a transparent attempt to position West Ham as the destination of choice for City stooges.
It was a fundamental misreading of an East End institution. It was also deliberate; there’s less chance of scratching the Mercedes at Stratford than driving down Green Street or Priory Road.
And now the poisonous pair are busy suppressing the understandable anger among West Ham’s match-going fans.
I saw stewards confiscate anti-Brady and Sullivan banners, both at the turnstiles and inside the away end at Liverpool on Saturday, along with hundreds of ‘red cards’ used to protest against the ownership.
This was reportedly under direct instruction from West Ham, on the grounds of being ‘inflammatory’ and ‘political’.
I must have missed Sullivan becoming a political party in another deviation from our two-party monopoly. These personal items were binned rather than returned afterwards.
There’s a depressing irony in Liverpool of all places backing the whims of a Tory peer and Sun columnist. Bill Shankly would be turning in his grave.
But suppression of free speech is an undercurrent of British society in 2026, especially when the government arrests Palestine Action supporters and wants to ban the use of VPNs.
Leaders across the world are using George Orwell’s 1984 as a to-do guide, rather than as a cautionary tale.
Word from ITKs is that the owners are using words like ‘declaration of war’ around fan protests. Not content with running West Ham into the ground, the owners are now salting the earth for sh*ts and giggles.
Sullivan and Brady are now intent on stamping out dissent and antagonising the very people they’ll expect to renew season tickets in a few weeks’ time.
The short-term thinking is staggering until you remember their track record in the transfer market, one that has reduced the club to a punchline among the wider football community.
On a related note, West Ham announced pre-tax losses of £104million for the 2024/25 season on Friday.
A liquidity shortfall – being unable to pay the bills – is forecast this summer. It’s common knowledge that the club will need to sell players, regardless of which division they’re in.
And that means waving goodbye to Jarrod Bowen, Matheus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville, not Max Kilman.
Writing in her newspaper column in 2010, Brady said: “To West Ham fans I’ll make a single pledge – while we are on the board, we will hang in the Tower of London before your club again goes through the financial turmoil which so nearly brought it down.”
Sixteen years later, several West Ham fans would volunteer to build the gallows themselves.
Instead of apologising to supporters, the owners are simply stamping down on their faces with greater intensity and protecting their own fragile feelings.
At least journalists from national newspapers are now calling them out, instead of swallowing lies and slandering West Ham fans as being overly demanding.
Writing in yesterday’s Observer, George Simms noted: ‘You have to question what Sullivan gets out of maintaining control of West Ham: loathed by fans and unwilling to change.
‘This is now a solely selfish pursuit, damaging a beloved club to soothe his ego.’
The 77-year-old is almost Trumpian, refusing to walk away unless he sees a win. It seems to be another 2026 bug that leaders squat in positions of power despite being universally hated.
Meanwhile, Brady continues to dispense questionable nuggets of wisdom on The Apprentice.
It’s galling that she remains a national figure after butchering West Ham’s very essence. She is rumoured to be considering her resignation.
If Sullivan and Brady expended as much time and energy into running the club as they do with fighting against supporters, West Ham would be perennial Premier League champions.
Instead, a final reckoning is coming for the pair. It will be richly deserved.
