Straumur Bank said it had sold CB Holding's 50 per cent stake in the club and that Sullivan and Gold, the former owners of Birmingham City, would take immediate operational and commercial control.

They have made one of their immediate targets resuming discussions with the Government and London Mayor Boris Johnson about the club, who are based in Newham, taking over the 80,000-capacity Olympic Stadium following the Games in 2012.

Gold said: "We are West Ham fans, we have a seven-year plan to get them into the Champions League and turn them into a big club.

"We hope we can persuade the Government to let us move to the Olympic Stadium which is in the same Borough.

"It's a natural home for West Ham United."

West Ham had initially expressed interest about moving into the Stadium from their current ground at Upton Park during the early stages of development but talks broke down because London 2012 insisted that an athletics track remained after the Games.

Tottenham Hotspur also held preliminary discussions but decided to build a new stadium on the site of their current ground at White Hart Lane.

But the election of Johnson in 2008 as London Mayor put having a football club at the Stadium as an anchor tenant back near the top of the agenda.

West Ham's chances will have been boosted by the inclusion last month of the Stadium in the plans of England 2018 if their bid to host the World Cup is successful.

Baroness Margaret Ford, the chair of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, had also said when she took over her new role last June that she wanted to return to the subject of a major football club moving into the Stadium.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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