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Sullivan: West Ham takeover 20 years in making

David Sullivan admits he and David Gold are excited about buying into West Ham United.

Hammers fans Sullivan and Gold have taken control after acquiring 50% of the club in a deal which values the club at £105million, with Karren Brady joining them as vice-chairman.

Sullivan went to university in the area while Gold, who played for the Hammers youth team, grew up very close to Upton Park.

He told Sky Sports News: "We have wanted to be here for 20-odd years. Together we owned 27% of the club 22 years ago, so it's taken us 22 years to be where we really wanted to be. I'm still in a state of shock.

"It has been a tough few weeks of negotiations, we have competed with two very serious bidders and unbeknown to us, right up until 11pm last night we thought we were getting the club and other two thought they were getting the club. It only came out at five to 11 last night that we had finally got the club."

Sullivan was delighted that he and Gold had returned to their roots.

"Me and David grew up here, David literally lived 50 yards from the ground for 20 years and played for the West Ham youth team, and we just want to be here. There is no other club in country we'd prefer to be at. We've come home."

Gold added: "This is a very exciting experience for David and I, we dreamt of this for many years and we just never felt it would happen, we thought the opportunity had gone forever. But here we are today.''

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