West Ham rose to the top of the Championship after a five-goal thriller at Bolton, their third consecutive league victory and a display that handed the club early momentum. Jarrod Bowen scored the opening goal and later secured the winner, and thousands of travelling supporters stayed to celebrate, singing about the team and voicing hostility towards former chairman David Sullivan.
The Story in Pictures
The match and the atmosphere highlighted a club in transition on and off the pitch. Daniel Kretinsky, described in club statements as the incoming chairman, is set to become the largest shareholder with a 46% holding if the complicated agreement announced on 3 September completes as expected within the next few weeks. Under that arrangement Sullivan would retain 40% of the club.
People inside West Ham point to a series of structural changes since the summer. Karim Virani has taken on the chief executive role and has been praised for engaging directly with supporters. Director of football Nils Koppen now has influence over recruitment, and the club presents transfers as a transparent process rather than deals executed in isolation.
That shift in approach accompanied heavy squad turnover. West Ham sold 12 players, including Crysencio Summerville and Mateus Fernandes, and signed nine. The club paid an EFL record fee of £22m to Celtic for Arne Engels and completed the transfer of Edvin Austbo for an initial £10m. Support at the London Stadium has remained strong: the club sold 50,000 season tickets for the Championship campaign, average league attendances top 60,000, and 53,369 watched the EFL Cup first round win over Portsmouth, a record at that stage.
Not all questions are settled. Amanda Staveley’s intentions following a deal she struck in July remain unclear, and that transaction triggered a pre-emption process that reshaped the shareholder line-up. Some supporters say Sullivan’s continued presence raises doubts, while others welcome the new leadership and more open dialogue between the board and fans. "No-one really knows what to make of it all," said season ticket holder Simon Lane, reflecting the uncertainty among supporters.
For manager Nuno Espírito Santo, class in players such as Bowen and Engels is only part of what matters; he views unity and stability as essential to a sustainable challenge. The immediate next step is whether the September agreement completes, which will finalise the balance of ownership and test whether the summer’s reorganisation translates into sustained on-field progress.
