David Sullivan set to attend West Ham tie against advice

West Ham are preparing for their Carabao Cup first-round tie against Portsmouth on Saturday, despite co-chair David Sullivan being advised to avoid home matches. The 77-year-old resigned from his position in June following the BBC Panorama and The Times investigation, which found seven women accused him of sexually exploitative and predatory behavior.

London Stadium has advised West Ham that Sullivan should not attend matches due to concerns about fan unrest. The club requests advance notice for any planned visits by major shareholder Sullivan, who still holds a 38.8% stake. The match against Portsmouth will be their first since the allegations surfaced, and the club has been banned from contact with women's and youth teams for three years due to safeguarding issues.

Sullivan has faced intense fan abuse since the club's relegation to the Championship last season. Recently, Vanessa Gold, daughter of Sullivan's late business partner, opted to sell her remaining shares to Amanda Staveley, the public face of the Saudi-backed Newcastle takeover, rather than sell part of her stake to Kretinsky. If Kretinsky were to buy Gold's shares, he would become West Ham's biggest shareholder and trigger a clause forcing him to purchase the remaining shares, despite the club's pre-emption rights.