Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has slammed PAI Capital’s attempts to buy West Ham, as reported by Football Insider.
PAI Capital recently announced they were pulling out of their bid to buy the football club from David Gold and David Sullivan after their latest attempt was rejected.
In between their two failed bids, PAI Capital recruited the likes of Tony Cottee and the Ferdinand brothers to publicly endorse their suitability as future owners of the club.
Since then, the man fronting PAI’s attempts, Nasib Piriyev has admitted his desire to own the football club remains and that he would be willing to reopen negotiations. He also suggested that he would be open to installing David Gold and David Sullivan as lifetime presidents in the future.
And it’s that statement that seems to have led Maguire to question the motives of PAI Capital’s takeover, considering how unpopular Gold and Sullivan are amongst the fanbase.
Speaking to Football Insider, Maguire said: “This doesn’t chime with their takeover approach.
“They got Tony Cottee in, and the Ferdinand brothers and claimed to be big West Ham fans.
“But this is business, and PAI are looking at West Ham purely from a real estate perspective.
“They will say anything that allows them to take over the club. I don’t think the football side of things is their focus at all.
“It’s just populist tokenism.”
