Sullivan and Gold take over West Ham

Former Birmingham City owners David Sullivan and David Gold have completed their takeover of Premier League rivals West Ham.

Sullivan and Gold sold Blues to Carson Yeung for £81.5million earlier this season and Sullivan confirmed the move to Upton Park today.

He said: "We will spell out the book we are taking over. The imbalance in the squad and the crazy wages the Icelandics were paying that brought the club to its knees."

It was also confirmed that Karren Brady, who was managing director at Birmingham, will become vice-chairman at Upton Park.

Sullivan and Gold became the favourites to buy the east London club after rival Tony Fernandes, chief executive of AirAsia and team principal of the new Lotus F1 team, pulled out of the race.