West Ham United’s principal sponsor was not made aware of the safeguarding ban in place on the club’s co-owner David Sullivan when it penned a multi-year deal, Daily Mail Sport understands.
Bosses at Boyle Sports, a major bookmaker who are free to remain on the front of shirt following the club’s relegation from the Premier League, have been left ‘extremely concerned’ at accusations the 77-year-old preyed on young women for sex.
Sullivan, it emerged, has been forbidden from having contact with the club’s women’s and academy teams since 2023 due to safeguarding concerns following an FA investigation after officials were made aware of historical allegations against him.
The FA investigation is understood to remain active. Sullivan denies any wrongdoing.
Earlier this week Daily Mail Sport reported how the independent football regulator, which has the power to force owners to sell stakes should they not comply with its owners and directors test, had requested urgent information from West Ham on the matter.
West Ham’s principal sponsor was not made aware of the safeguarding ban in place on the club’s co-owner David Sullivan when it penned a multi-year deal, Daily Mail Sport understands
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Boyle Sports signed a multi-year deal in 2025. The terms are not known but the deal is worth multiple millions.
Had the Hammers stayed in the top flight they would not have been able to remain on the front of shirt thanks to new rules.
A Boyle Sports spokesperson said: ‘Boyle Sports is extremely concerned at the serious nature of the allegations levelled against David Sullivan.
‘It is our understanding that the Independent Football Regulator is reviewing this matter urgently and we wholeheartedly support their efforts in doing so.’
In a new statement, Sullivan said he had negotiated a temporary agreement 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.
‘I wish to clarify recent media reports regarding a negotiated agreement with the Football Association which has inaccurately described as a disciplinary ban,’ the statement read.
‘In my entire 16 years at West Ham, I have never met any academy or women’s team players one to one, therefore a negotiated and temporary agreement with the FA not to do so until the FA resolved an outstanding complaint in relation to a single anonymous complaint regarding an event in 1981 was entered into.
‘The complaint had nothing to do with my time in football and 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.’
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