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Morning all,
Might spoil your morning coffee but nonetheless ….
PAI Capital: Philip Beard interview leaves West Ham fans with more questions than answers
It was the sixth minute of Philip Beard’s 43 minute interview with TalkSport and it was perhaps at this point that, much like Newcastle’s defenders on Sunday, the PAI Capital partner realised he was in for a testing time.
“Sitting on TalkSport is not the way you buy a football club, buying football clubs is finding some sort of accord with the owners and using professional people to do it,” remarked former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan. “My understanding is you’ve put a proof of funds in as a letter saying you’ve got the funds without a great deal of qualification behind that. You can’t sit here and say ‘I want to set the record straight and put people into the picture’ – there is an element of playing to the gallery.
“If you knock on the door and say ‘I want to buy your business or your house for X, Y, Z and they say no and want more than that, you can’t sit in the public domain crying foul because they want more money for the business. Proof of funds isn’t difficult. I’ve bought a football club and I went in and wrote a cheque out.”
He added: “The reality of it is that you are saying this model only works, and it is a property play because you are going to enable the development of the footprint around it to be giving you revenue streams to repay you money in the first place and service the demands of the football club going forward.”
Jordan, who was Palace chairman from 2000-2010, was keen in his pursuit of answers about the West Ham takeover bid.
As the old adage goes, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again — so after five minutes of hesitation and straying off-topic, co-presenter Jim White gave Beard the chance to compose himself.
The former Queens Park Rangers chief executive was conducting the interview to set the record straight about who PAI Capital are, why they are genuine about their intention to buy West Ham and how they plan to improve the London Stadium.
In July, David Sullivan, West Ham’s co-owner, told The Athletic the consortium that approached them did not provide proof of funds, and no mention was made of investing in the transfer market to strengthen the first-team squad. He dismissed the £400 million offer, describing it as “derisory”. The Athletic understands Sullivan and his fellow shareholders at West Ham, long-term business partner David Gold and American investor Albert “Tripp” Smith, are not convinced PAI Capital actually has the money.
Since then, PAI Capital have vehemently denied those claims.
In a statement issued to The Athletic, a spokesperson for PAI Capital said: “PAI and our legal counsel did submit a proof of funds to West Ham’s owners and funds for the purchase are directly accessible, subject to a commercial agreement being reached with the current owners.”
That followed an earlier statement from Beard, who said the £400 million offer was “in fact the figure that David Sullivan had initially asked for”.
Yet whether it is PAI Capital founder Nasib Piriyev claiming to be a lifelong West Ham fan, former Apprentice contestant Thomas Skinner trying to reassure supporters on social media, Rio Ferdinand (who has backed PAI along with his brother Anton) calling for Declan Rice to join Manchester United or PAI Capital referring to the club as “West Ham FC” — they are yet to give fans any confidence they are a better option than Sullivan, Gold and Karren Brady.
During Beard’s interview, he talked about how it had been a brilliant weekend for sport, with fans filling the Brentford Community Stadium stadium to watch the home side beat Arsenal 2-0 on their Premier League debut and New Zealand beating Australia 57-22 in the Rugby Championship — yet failed to highlight West Ham’s thrilling win at St James’ Park or the under-23s’ emphatic win against Arsenal on Monday night.
At least American actor Isiah Whitlock knows where his loyalties lie, having tweeted “Always nice to see West Ham win 4-2” with the image of Bobby Moore, Sir Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.
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West Ham defeated Newcastle 4-2 in a thrilling match on Sunday (Photo: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
The general consensus is Beard’s interview left supporters with more questions than answers. He was asked why fans should trust him and went off-topic by saying how appalled he was by what is going on in Haiti and Afghanistan.
Beard also said the London Stadium was being under-utilised and wanted to improve fan experience, as well as investing in the team.
Yet the club have made fan experience better — to a degree. In September a new stand configuration meant supporters behind the goals in the Bobby Moore north stand and Sir Trevor Brooking south stand were closer to the pitch.
At half-time during the pre-season 2-0 win against Atalanta, West Ham held a half-time quiz where supporters had to cast their votes on their phones. Questions ranged from how many goals West Ham and Atalanta had scored combined over the last five seasons, to how many league and cup appearances captain Mark Noble has made since making his first-team debut in 2004. Such was the level of interest some supporters temporarily held off from getting their half-time snacks.
Instead of discussing more important matters such as how he would improve the club’s training ground, Beard once more emphasised a desire to tap into the Olympic legacy. The Athletic understands that the stadium, which West Ham lease on very attractive terms, and the park are central to PAI Capital’s strategy for the club. Beard has made no secret of the fact he believes West Ham and the stadium’s ultimate owners, London Legacy Development Corporation, are failing to realise the full potential of the 66,000-capacity venue and 560-acre park in which it sits.
In the interview, Beard also explained how he was keen to put on “world-class boxing”. Well, in that case, the current owners are visionaries having hosted a boxing event at Upton Park between David Haye and Derek Chisora in July 2012 in an event billed “Licensed to Thrill”.
It is well-documented that Gold, Sullivan and Brady will never be universally popular among supporters. Yet the reappointment of David Moyes as manager, Europa League qualification last season and the impending arrival of Rob Newman as head of recruitment mean there has been signs of positive progress.
Even when supporters vented their frustration ahead of the trio’s ten-year anniversary, they still turned up to face the music. If the going got tough, could we be so sure Piriyev and Beard would turn up week in, week out?
Before White and Jordan wrapped up their interview with Beard, he stressed how the consortium were serious and planned on making a second bid. But arguably his most important challenge is his bid to win over the sceptical West Ham fanbase
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