This bleak investigation into allegations against the former West Ham owner and porn baron David Sullivan is incredibly valuable. It needs to spark widespread change \u2013 not least for all the women who\u2019ve come forward<\/p>\n
At this point, is it even worth saying that British football has a problem with safeguards around club ownership? In the context of the various sports-washing petrostates, incompetent investment conglomerates, oddball entrepreneurs and publicity hounds who control the purse strings of \u201cthe beautiful game\u201d in the UK, West Ham United\u2019s billionaire owner David Sullivan didn\u2019t seem that much of an outlier. By the end of his tenure, West Ham fans largely hated him. But while they had their reasons and many of them were entirely valid, they didn\u2019t always seem connected to either his business dealings or his tabloid past<\/a>.<\/p>\n Football fans are nothing if not morally flexible. They (perhaps, in the interests of full disclosure, I should say \u201cwe\u201d) will overlook almost anything if there\u2019s a trophy or two finding its way into the cabinet. While Sullivan\u2019s recent decision to step down as West Ham\u2019s owner has been widely celebrated in east London, that\u2019s mainly a result of the club\u2019s recent relegation from the Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/1181b39b8884371cb0e0e8495fb8cba30a47e914\/75_0_1146_917\/master\/1146.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=15e7b6ee175411da6f9d478524934f6d\" "\\"Predator:")
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