Spare a thought for Hammers supporters, who’ve had to endure a tough few months.

Thanks to the catastrophic collapse of Iceland’s banking sector, Björgólfur Guðmundsson – the “billionaire” (on paper at least) owner of West Ham found he actually had very little money left, as creditors seized the club’s holding company (and those banks he owned).

This left West Ham in the most precarious position possible. Having what amounts to liquidators running a football club is far from an ideal situation. Sure, the wage bills got paid, but manager Gianfranco Zola knew he had no real budget for anything. They had to sell players in order to buy. And with the mounting list of injuries, West Ham were facing the very real possibility of being liquidated.

Thankfully, CB Holding which seized West Ham had no real interest in actually running the club and after a protracted search for buyers, former Birmingham City owners David Sullivan and David Gold bought 50%, giving them control over and responsibility for operational matters. CB Holding will act as a silent partner.

Sullivan’s comments about the purchase were especially brutal: “It makes no commercial sense to buy this club.

“If there was any other club in this situation, then we would not be buying it. We bought this as supporters, not from a business point of view.”

Sullivan and Gold have wanted to own West Ham for 20 years.

The massive problem (and possibly the reason many potential buyers simply weren’t interested) is debt. West Ham has a big stinking pile of it.

Sullivan reckons the club is £110m in debt (CB, the seller, maintains its closer to £38m).

See, it depends how you calculate it. Sullivan says that, in simplistic terms, the club owes around £50m to banks and another £40m to other clubs for outstanding transfer debts.

The swashbucklers admit they’re “going to have to do some wheeling and dealing” which they admit they’re very good at.

“We’ll have to find new money.”

Pleasingly, the duo have said that Zola’s job is safe and that he will have some transfer funds available.

“We appointed four managers and parted company with two at Birmingham in 16 years. We believe in our managers and give them the time and support they need.”

That can only be seen as welcome news to Zola who, speaking last week, said: “I know I can do this job but you always have to prove yourself every day.”

Over and above this, the new owners want to move into London’s new Olympic Stadium – a few miles from Upton Park – after the 2012 Games.

The long term thinking is inspired. And refreshing. Sullivan reckons that with a “huge ground, we can take football back to the people, reduce admission prices and become the cheapest Premier League ground in the country.”

Sullivan and Gold only reaffirm the contrast between owners that dearly love their clubs, and more-removed “businessmen” who buy Premier League outfits with no real knowledge of football.

Liverpool’s owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have saddled the club with around £200m in debt, which thankfully they have started reducing. The Glazer family that own Manchester United have amassed a staggering £716.5m in debt according to the latest accounts. They’re trying to refinance £500m of that, but there are obviously massive risks.

If I were a Liverpool fan (or even a Manchester United one), I’d be worried… And if I supported Pompey, I’d have given up hope last year already.