West Ham head into their first Championship campaign for 14 years with fresh hope on the pitch but significant questions off it, as a complex battle for control of the club continues. Hammers fans have had good news this summer - manager Nuno Espirito Santo committed his future, captain Jarrod Bowen stayed, and new arrivals Manor Solomon and Joel Veltman added experience. They lost Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville, but 50,000 season tickets were sold despite relegation.\n\nYet uncertainty swirls around ownership, two months after David Sullivan resigned as co-chair after seven women accused him of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour - allegations he denies.

Fellow co-chairs Vanessa Gold and Daniel Kretinsky vowed to protect the club, which appeared to increase Kretinsky's stake to 43%. It turned into a corporate struggle after Vanessa Gold decided to sell her shares to a consortium led by Amanda Staveley. Kretinsky then sold 2% of his share to Jakub Havrlant, raising questions about shareholder agreements.\n\nSullivan remains the largest shareholder with 38.8%.

He ignored advice to stay away from the EFL Cup match, which West Ham won 3-1 in front of a record crowd of 53,369. The pre-emption rights complicate any sale: any major shareholder must first offer shares to existing shareholders for 30 days. If Sullivan buys half of Gold's shares, he could go over 50%; Kretinsky could add 9%.

The Independent Regulator might scrutinise any increase by Sullivan.\n\n"Instead, we've got another West Ham soap opera playing out in the boardroom. It's like Eastenders," said one long-standing supporter. None of the key figures have outlined their wider strategy in public.