LONDON club West Ham's finances were again in the spotlight on Tuesday after the Icelandic bank chaired by the club's billionaire owner was put in receivership, the latest victim of global financial turmoil.
The Icelandic government said it was taking control of Landsbanki, the island's second-largest bank by value, as the country's financial system threatened to collapse and its currency plunged.
Owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, erstwhile chairman of Landsbanki, led an £85 million ($218.3m) buyout of the east London club in November 2006.
He invested another £30.5m in West Ham in December 2007 after buying a further 5 per cent stake.
He is Iceland's second-richest person, after his son Thor.
The Gudmundsson family are major shareholders in Landsbanki.
West Ham, already reeling from the loss of its shirt sponsor last month after the collapse of tour operator XL Leisure, could not be reached for comment.
The mid-sized club is also appealing against a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that it pay compensation to a rival club, which could run into tens of millions of pounds.
Vulnerable
Richard Elliott, a lecturer in globalisation in soccer at Southampton Solent University, said English clubs were becoming more vulnerable because they were no longer funded just by fans entering the turnstiles and could be affected by events beyond their control as a result of growing foreign ownership.
'Now they are global corporations, and they are run across the world and financed and sponsored by companies around the world, and they are broadcast around the world,' Elliott said.
'So if there is a global financial crisis, being a global league, there is a much greater likelihood now that the effects will be felt in big clubs and small clubs,' he said.
West Ham, a bastion of Cockney London, is currently sixth in the English Premier League.
It narrowly missed being relegated at the expense of rival Sheffield United during the 2006-07 season but was last month adjudged by the CAS arbitration panel to have fielded an ineligible player who had been pivotal in keeping them up - Carloz Tevez, now of Manchester United.
The CAS did not specify the amount it expected West Ham to pay Sheffield United in compensation, but a figure of £30m was widely reported.
West Ham made a £22m pre-tax loss in the 2006-07 financial year.
