The company that owns and operates West Ham United’s home ground has said it was never told about safeguarding restrictions imposed on the club’s co-owner David Sullivan – a revelation that has raised fresh questions about how the Premier League side handled the case.
London Stadium, which runs the 62,500-seat venue, told the BBC they “would expect to be informed” on such matters so they could “assess risk” and ensure measures were in place to protect their staff, contractors and the public.
“London Stadium operators say they were not told about safeguarding restrictions on West Ham co-owner David Sullivan.”
The Football Association opened a safeguarding investigation in 2023 after receiving allegations about Sullivan’s conduct. In response, a safeguarding group made up of the club, the FA and the local authority decided to prevent the 77-year-old from having access to his own club’s youth and women’s teams.
West Ham’s women’s team and the Women’s Super League were also not aware of any restrictions on Sullivan’s access and interactions with the team.
The news came to light after an investigation by BBC Panorama and the Times revealed multiple women have accused Sullivan of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour, including pressuring them for sex during business meetings. Sullivan has said he “categorically” denies the claims, which span the period when he made a fortune from pornography, newspapers and football.
In a statement about the safeguarding measures, Sullivan said a temporary agreement was negotiated with the FA not to meet academy or women’s team players “1-2-1” until a historical anonymous complaint was resolved. He has previously said he denies allegations of wrongdoing.
Sullivan said he had never met any academy or women’s team players “1-2-1” during his 16 years at West Ham.
He said the complaint “had nothing to do about my time in football and it never happened”.
“I saw it as a meaningless restriction, as it didn’t impact on my work in any way, therefore I accepted it for a quiet life,” he said.
Sullivan said it was inaccurate to describe this agreement as a “disciplinary ‘ban’”.
London Stadium have written to the club, the FA and the relevant local authority to seek further information about the process and why they were not made aware.
A West Ham spokesperson told the BBC that aside from parties directly involved in the safeguarding process, no other external parties were notified due to “best practice safeguarding agreed with independent external bodies”. They added that the number of people informed is intentionally kept to a minimum.
The Football Association said they have robust safeguarding measures but cannot comment on individual cases.