West Ham co-owner David Sullivan banned from women's and youth teams over safeguarding concerns

West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has been banned from contact with the club's women's and youth teams for the past three years because of safeguarding concerns.

The Football Association opened a safeguarding investigation in 2023 after receiving allegations about Sullivan, then the club's co-chair. A safeguarding group that included the club, the FA and the local authority decided to bar him from access to the youth and women's teams. He has also been prevented from attending their matches, and the ban remains in place.

Sullivan has not responded to a request for comment. He has previously denied allegations of wrongdoing. The restrictions were not made public, and Sullivan continued to appear in the director's box for men's team games at the London Stadium.

He remains the club's largest shareholder. He resigned as co-chair and a director of West Ham on Saturday ahead of a BBC and Times investigation in which multiple women accused him of abusing his power and preying on them for sex.

Denying the allegations, Sullivan said he wanted to focus on fighting what he called "factually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations concerning my personal life," describing the investigation as "fundamentally unfair."

West Ham and the Football Association both said they have robust safeguarding measures but cannot comment on individual cases.

The allegations span decades when Sullivan made a fortune from pornography, newspapers and football. All come from women who were in their late teens or early twenties and were young models seeking work at Sullivan's Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers.

The BBC and Times investigation also revealed that eight women, including one who was part of the investigation, have gone to the police with disclosures about Sullivan's conduct. None of those cases have resulted in charges.

The Metropolitan Police said it takes such allegations "extremely seriously" and "any information or evidence provided to police will be assessed and the appropriate enquiries carried out."

The Independent Football Regulator said it contacted West Ham over "extremely serious allegations" raised about Sullivan and said it was seeking "urgent information" from him about his suitability for the role.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's spokesperson called the women's accounts "harrowing." Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy described the latest revelations as "utterly horrifying."

"If it is the case that an investigation concluded that there were sufficiently serious allegations to warrant a ban on contact with the youth and women's teams, then the FA must explain this decision and why no further action was taken," she said. "I expect a full and urgent explanation from the FA and West Ham as to how these incredibly serious allegations have been handled."

Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones, the former victims minister, said she was "horrified but sadly not surprised" when she first heard of the allegations against Sullivan. She called for a review of how the police have handled disclosures made about Sullivan, and into what action had been taken by the FA and West Ham.

West Ham said it had clear and robust safeguarding measures in place and the club was unable to comment or provide details on "any individual safeguarding matter as per standard practice in the industry."

In his resignation statement, Sullivan said that "after a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me."

The 77-year-old had held the joint chairman position for 16 years and was the club's largest single shareholder following the death of his business partner, David Gold, in January 2023.