Clack - Fernandez, had he had the money and being an avid Hammers fan, don't you think he would have bought the 50%, the deal the Daves' got was pay half now with an option to buy the rest over 3 years, a good deal for them and the only deal on the table for Straumer. Straumer had no funds to invest in the team and were actively encouraging the club to sell its best players, which would have lead to meltdown no doubt and almost certainly administration. I know for sure that Parker was on their hit list for sale, Duxbury reneged by securitising cash from advance ticket sales and placating the banks that West Ham were a going concern.

I can say for a fact that Duxbury was offering the club for 20 million quid, effectively 120m when you add in the debts. Nobody was prepared to pay that figure or take on the debts, the only party that would were G & S.

G & S had made decent money from selling Birmingham, they used that cash to but West Ham and have since increased their holding to 67% - Straumer don't want to own any part of the club, they are managing 'assets' and want the money back to pay off debts.