West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has been banned from contact with the club’s women’s and youth teams for the past three years due to safeguarding concerns.
The Football Association launched a safeguarding investigation in 2023 after receiving allegations about the conduct of Sullivan, who was then co-chair of West Ham United.
A safeguarding group comprising the club, the FA, and the local authority collectively agreed to bar Sullivan from accessing the youth and women’s sections of his own club.
The ban, which has remained in place to the present day, also prevented Sullivan from attending matches involving those teams.
Despite the restrictions, Sullivan continued to appear regularly in the director’s box at the London Stadium for the men’s first-team fixtures throughout this period.
Sullivan resigned as co-chair and a director of West Ham on Saturday, ahead of a joint BBC and Times investigation in which multiple women accused the billionaire businessman of abusing his power and preying on them for sex.
In his resignation statement, Sullivan said he wanted to focus on fighting what he called “factually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations concerning my personal life”, describing the investigation as “fundamentally unfair”.
Sullivan also said that “after a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me.”
He remains the club’s largest shareholder following the death of his long-time business partner David Gold in January 2023, having held the joint chairman position for 16 years.
The allegations against Sullivan span decades and involve women who were in their late teens or early twenties, working as young models seeking employment at his Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers.
Eight women, including one who participated in the investigation, have gone to the police with disclosures about Sullivan’s conduct, though none of those cases have resulted in charges.
The Metropolitan Police said it takes such allegations “extremely seriously” and that “any information or evidence provided to police will be assessed and the appropriate enquiries carried out.”
The Independent Football Regulator confirmed it had contacted West Ham over “extremely serious allegations” and was seeking “urgent information” from Sullivan regarding his suitability for the role.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy described the revelations as “utterly horrifying”, demanding a full explanation from both the FA and West Ham about how the allegations had been handled.
Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones said she was “horrified but sadly not surprised when she first heard of the allegations against David Sullivan”, calling for a review of how police and football authorities have responded.
