West Ham fans’ advisory group issues vote of no confidence in club board

West Ham’s official fan advisory board, which represents more than 25,000 supporters, has issued a vote of no confidence in the club’s board.

A letter from the FAB, signed by 11 supporters’ groups, was sent last week to the shareholders David Sullivan, Vanessa Gold, Daniel Kretinsky and Tripp Smith and made public on Wednesday. It cites “an ageing and uncompetitive squad” as one example of “sustained failure on behalf of the executive management” since the club won the Conference League and sold Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105m two years ago.

One group which is a signatory to the letter, Hammers United, is calling for a boycott of the home game against Brentford next month. The FAB is described by West Ham as the club’s “primary mechanism for formal consultation and engagement”.

Its letter said: “You told us that our move to the London Stadium would take us to the next level. The reality is, our commercial revenues are now dwarfed by our supposed rivals. Supporters find themselves casting envious glances at the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, Brentford and Crystal Palace all of whom outperform West Ham United both on and off the pitch.

“We need professional full-time executives with both football and commercial expertise, and no further board interference, no more dependence on favoured agents, in short, a move to a competitive professional leadership. The recently quoted description ‘analogue club in a digital world’ is very apt and has to change.”

It is understood there is some surprise at West Ham at the timing of the letter. Sources said “a positive and constructive meeting” was held with the FAB three days before the start of the season and that nothing was raised by the fan representatives present. Brady is understood to have attended and spoken with the fans.

Senior West Ham officials are believed to have offered to discuss the issues raised in the letter with representatives of the FAB in an attempt to resolve their grievances. It has been suggested the sudden change in sentiment has been down to performances on the pitch.

West Ham started the season with two heavy defeats, conceding eight goals against promoted Sunderland and Chelsea, and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Wolves. Although Graham Potter’s side beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Sunday to pick up their first points, Hammers United wants fans to protest against the club’s ownership at the home game against Crystal Palace on 20 September before engaging in the boycott.

“After our 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest, Brady and Sullivan will be expecting our fans to walk through the turnstiles as if the last 15 years never happened,” it said in a statement.

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“This is why it’s more important than ever for the fans to let them know that we will never forgive, and nor will we forget, all of the damage they have done to our club. Stand together. Boycott Brentford.”

Hammers United has urged Sullivan and Brady to resign and said “our club is going to die” if they do not sell up. “It is in serious decline and dying a slow death as we speak, with thousands of long-term, time-served fans walking away, another relegation fight beckoning, and another early cup exit,” its chair, Paul Colborne, said. “We cannot allow this to happen on our watch.”

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