West Ham face financial uncertainty

The Iceland Government took control of the bank to stop it collapsing and sacked the board, including Mr Gudmundsson.

The news inevitably raised questions about the financial security of West Ham, but a senior boardroom member insisted it's business as usual at Upton Park.

"This is not affecting West Ham," he told the BBC.

"One of Mr Gudmundsson's investments has gone bad, but he is still standing and has a lot of other investments.

"West Ham is protected by Mr Gudmundsson. He has considerable personal wealth in a number of sectors, such as construction and shipping, and most of these assets and investments are overseas."

It's been a bad few weeks for the 67-year-old and West Ham.

Shirt sponsors XL went bust last month, one year into a three-year deal, leaving the club £5million out of pocket.

Mr Gudmundsson was a guarantor of a £163million bank loan to XL.

The club also face a £30million compensation claim from Sheffield United after an independent inquiry gave its ruling on the Carlos Tevez affair last week.

And on the pitch the Hammers were thumped 3-1 at home against Bolton on Sunday.

Mr Gudmundsson paid £85million for West Ham in November 2006. Shortly after taking over he sacked manager Alan Pardew and brought in Alan Curbishley.

But Curbishley resigned at the start of last month because of the sale of a number of key players just before the end of the transfer window.

He was replaced by Gianfranco Zola. It remains to be seen whether the Italian will have any funds made available to him in January to strengthen his squad.