Eggert Magnusson, the head of the Icelandic Football Association seems to have bested the Kia Joorabchian – Eli Papoushado offer and agreed to take on the £22.5m West Ham debt for a total bid of £75m. Meanwhile Eli Papoushado’s haggling over the West Ham debt especially the £4m outstanding on the transfer of Dean Ashton has irritated the West Ham management.
Another sticking point in the Joorabchian- Papoushado offer is that Joorabachian, if he takes over West Ham, wants Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano in the starting lineup of every match, a move that Pardew is not willing to accept, thus making his position less secure as West Ham’s coach. In fact, Papoushado will probably scout for a big name coach like Sven Goran Erickson or Big Phil Scolari. This is likely to go down badly with West Ham players and fans who see Pardew as the man responsible for their club’s revival.
The sentiment was expressed by Hayden Mullins when he said, “If he is under pressure, we will all fight for him and scrap for him. It was brilliant that we could pull out the two wins for him. Now we can start looking upwards. I feel we are going places. We have a good young squad and a good manager and it is a terrific place to be.”
The aptly named Eggert Magnusson seems to have all the qualifications in place to become West Ham’s new owner. It should be a no-brainer.