Many of our members have been in contact asking whether we support a takeover from PAI Capital.
It has always been our position that we would like to see David Sullivan and David Gold publicly state that their shares are for sale. We would hope this would encourage any prospective owners to make enquiries.
We have also maintained that we don’t believe it is the responsibility of a supporters group to source, vet and recommended to the club, any potential new owners.
However, our members and many thousands of West Ham supporters would be very interested to learn of the integrity, objectives and long term vision from interested parties.
Supporters associations, of course, do not influence proceedings on such matters based on their take on this information. That said, supporters are the heart and soul of what any buyer is investing into, and communicating with those supporters can only help to ensure new owners begin their tenure with the backing of those supporters.
With this in mind, we contacted PAI Capital. We have asked whether they endorse our vision for supporter engagement; specifically whether they are keen to shoulder responsibility and build trust with supporters, celebrate our culture and heritage, give us a home we can be proud of, build a sense of community, look after supporters with the level of service they deserve and communicate openly and honestly along the way.
At the time of writing, we have only received a holding email.
Until such time as we have detail referring to their intentions on the areas outlined above, and explained in our vision, it would be wrong for us to form an opinion.
We remain optimistic that, whoever our new owners are, they can rebuild supporter engagement and the supporter experience. We hope they will see the value in working with supporters groups to achieve this.
Hammers United
