Had results over the weekend taken a far-from-radical turn, Gianfranco Zola’s West Ham would now be bottom of the Premier League.   But thankfully for the popular Sardinian and his team, Portsmouth were almost as bad as the Hull City team with which they drew on Saturday.   And, on Sunday, the Hammers fought back from two-down against an occasionally imperious Arsenal, and held on to that point with ten men during the closing stages.

Both West Ham goals came in the final 16 minutes at the Boleyn Ground.

And the revival came after Zola introduced substitutes Alessandro Diamanti and Zavon Hines, giving the Hammers an attacking threat they’d lacked with Mexican debutant Franco alongside in-form Carlton Cole.

Cole pulled a goal back on 74 minutes and Diamanti levelled matters from the penalty spot before midfielder Scott Parker was dismissed when he received a very harsh second yellow card. Parker will miss this weekend’s trip to Sunderland as a result.

Despite the continuing on-field struggles, however, considerable recent interest in buying the club has been reported from various groups around the globe.

So feverish is the speculation that current owners, CB Holdings, are to appoint financial experts to seek new investment – increasingly necessary, in the light of the club’s continuing losses on-and-off the pitch.

 

The Guardian reported that international investment bank Rothschild and Standard Bank “have been given a joint mandate…to seek a new strategic investor (to) take a stake and maybe, eventually, acquire overall control.”   Meanwhile the News of the World was given the honour of breaking the news that former Wall Street ‘mogul’ Jim Bowe had submitted a “£100m bid” to buy the club.   Bowe, chief executive of London-based ‘financial analysis’ company Intermarket Group, claimed he was leading a consortium of “West Ham supporters who have made serious money in the City, the United States and elsewhere.”

He assured readers: “(They) have the money required and, more importantly, the right sentiments. They have no interest in interfering in the playing side…but will make money available in the January Transfer Window.”

Having ticked all the right PR-boxes with that statement, little has subsequently been heard from Bowe’s group, who have been unable to contact Hammers chairman Andrew Bernhardt.

Bowe has only been at Intermarket for a month, while the company’s HQ refused to comment on any bid. One of Intermarket’s director-shareholders, David Byrne was declared bankrupt nine years ago, although he says he has repaid all debts.

Other interested parties in the club include Malay business magnate Tony Fernandes, chief of budget airline Air Asia. West Ham insiders told the Daily Mail that Fernandes was the “only candidate to have shown genuine interest.”

Defender Calum Davenport has been charged with ‘assault causing actual bodily harm’ to his 28-year-old sister Cara, during a well-documented incident which saw him stabbed in both legs.

Ms Davenport’s boyfriend Worrell Whitehead was charged with attacking the 26-year-old former England under-21 international, who has refused to comment on the incident “for legal reasons” beyond denying all wrongdoing.