Ciaran Morrison

Sun 26 April 2026 11:00, UK

Follow us on Google Discover

West Ham United chairman David Sullivan has been tipped to leave the club next after Karren Brady departed the London Stadium.

That is according to ex-Everton, Aston Villa and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes there could be more to Brady’s decision to leave West Ham than has been revealed.

Brady announced that she would leave her role as vice-chair at West Ham with immediate effect, with Daniel Kretinsky taking over her position.

The 57-year-old has worked alongside Sullivan, firstly at Birmingham City, for four decades, and the West Ham chairman was hit with another blow behind-the-scenes when executive director Nathan Thompson confirmed he would also be stepping down immediately.

Amid Brady’s exit, Kretinsky could buy part of the Gold family’s 25.1% stake in the club to match Sullivan’s shareholding in West Ham to have greater influence on key decisions.

Karren Brady felt ‘pressure’ to leave West Ham

Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – states that Sullivan needs to bring stability back to West Ham.

Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness thinks “unproven allegations” against Sullivan in the media may have influenced Brady’s decision.

He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “Now, given the rumours and let me say, stress allegations and unproven allegations and rumours about Sullivan and all the social media noise, it would seem that he would be the one to go next.

“Now, whether that was a factor in Karren Brady leaving, I don’t know, but it’s something that you could quite easily draw, and come to that conclusion. She would claim that she’s had enough.

“Brady’s been in football for a long time and there’s a lot of pressure and there are other things to do. I do believe that there may be more to that story, and there are a few things to go yet.

“I’m sorry to see a clean out of executive management because West Ham needs stability right now. So that’s a really big worry.”

Interest increasing in West Ham centre-back

Former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown told Football Insider that West Ham are likely to lose defender Konstantinos Mavropanos in the summer transfer window.

That is despite the 28-year-old having emerged as a key player under Nuno Espirito Santo, and having scored three goals in his last five appearances.

Mavropanos could return to the Bundesliga, regardless of whether West Ham remain in the Premier League this season, but the Hammers will demand a big fee to let him go.