London Stadium – which owns and operates West Ham United’s home ground – has said it was not informed about safeguarding restrictions placed on the club’s co-owner David Sullivan, raising concerns about risk assessment for staff, contractors and the public.
The Football Association opened a safeguarding investigation in 2023 after receiving allegations about Sullivan’s conduct, and a safeguarding group comprising the club, the FA and the local authority decided to prevent Sullivan from having one-to-one access to West Ham’s youth and women’s teams. Sullivan, 77, has said he “categorically” denies the claims, which came to light after a joint BBC Panorama and Times investigation in which seven women accused him of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour, including pressuring them for sex during business meetings over a period dating back to the 1980s.
“London Stadium and West Ham women's team were not told of David Sullivan's 2023 safeguarding restrictions, raising concerns.”
Neither the Women’s Super League nor West Ham’s women’s team were told about the restrictions, the Guardian has learned. Sources close to the playing squad said the team are “appalled” by the allegations, which they only learned of when the story broke this week. However, separate sources said it would have breached the local authority’s safeguarding regulations to inform the league, players or staff of the details of an ongoing case.
London Stadium – which also said West Ham’s women’s team were not aware of the restrictions – has written to the club, the FA and the relevant local authority seeking further information about why they were not notified. A West Ham spokesperson told the BBC that aside from parties directly involved in the safeguarding process, no other external parties were informed because “best practice safeguarding agreed with independent external bodies” meant the number of people told was intentionally kept to a minimum.
Sullivan, who stepped down as joint chairman and director of the recently relegated men’s club before the publication of the claims, said the temporary agreement with the FA not to meet academy or women’s team players one-to-one was “a meaningless restriction” that did not impact his work. “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. He added that he had never met any academy or women’s team players one-to-one during his 16 years at West Ham, and described the agreement as inaccurate to call a “disciplinary ‘ban’”.
The FA said it has robust safeguarding measures but cannot comment on individual cases. A West Ham spokesperson said the club has “clear and robust safeguarding measures” that are independently assessed and audited annually, but could not comment further. Sullivan has never been listed as a director of West Ham United Women Football Club Limited; his son Jack Sullivan was a director between November 2017 and May 2021.