New West Ham owners hammer home their passion

London: West Ham United have prided themselves on being the people`s club of London`s East End for generations and on Tuesday two of their richest fans took control of the club promising a bright new future.

Businessmen David Gold and David Sullivan, former owners of Birmingham City, completed their takeover of the Premier League strugglers and said they wanted to take the club into the Champions League within seven years. They also plan to move West Ham from Upton Park to the new Olympic Stadium just three miles away after the 2012 London Games. Their immediate concern however was to keep the Hammers in the Premier League -- the team are 16th and only being kept out of the relegation zone by goal difference. Sullivan, who watched the team from the terraces as a boy, said in a tearful interview with radio station Talksport that he and partner Gold were lifelong Hammers supporters who always dreamed of owning West Ham. "We care passionately about this club, we are so pleased to be here," he said, adding there were no plans to replace manager Gianfranco Zola. "He is the manager and will stay as the manager," he said. "But we must stay in the Premiership, if we don`t it is an absolute disaster for us." Bureau Report