West Ham go top of Championship - are they ready to leave past behind?
September 8, 2026 22:38
West Ham came away from Bolton with victory in a five-goal contest; skipper Jarrod Bowen scored early and again late to secure the win. Around 4,500 travelling supporters stayed after the final whistle to celebrate, with fans singing about Bowen and vocally criticising former chairman David Sullivan.
The result moved West Ham to the top of the Championship and completed a third straight league win — the club’s first such sequence since December 2023.
KEY CONTEXT
The club has undergone significant off-field change since the summer. Daniel Kretinsky has taken the chairman role and is expected to become the largest shareholder with a 46% holding. Karim Virani is the chief executive and has been praised internally for engaging with supporters; Nils Koppen is influencing recruitment. In the transfer window West Ham sold 12 players (including Crysencio Summerville and Mateus Fernandes) and recruited nine, paying an EFL-record £22m to Celtic for Arne Engels and signing Norway’s young player of the year, Edvin Austbo, for an initial £10m.
Former chairman David Sullivan resigned in June amid his intention to challenge allegations raised in a BBC Panorama and Times investigation, but he remains a shareholder. A deal announced on 3 September would, if completed as expected in the coming weeks, leave Sullivan with a 40% stake. Earlier departures such as Karren Brady’s and the ownership developments were cited as factors in selling about 50,000 season tickets for West Ham’s first League campaign outside the top flight since 2011; the club’s average league attendance so far exceeds 60,000, and 53,369 attended their EFL Cup first-round tie — a record for that round.
WHY IT MATTERS
On the pitch the win and early-season form give West Ham momentum after relegation last May. Off the pitch, the arrival of new leadership and a more open recruitment process signal an organisational reset that the club points to as a break with recent turbulence. High-profile signings and strong attendances underline the scale of expectation and the resources available to try to return the club to higher levels.