West Ham chief David Sullivan won’t speak for the rest of the season after Charlie Austin bust-up

Striking allegation: Hammers co-owner claimed striker has 'no ligaments in his knee'
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Simon Johnson21 August 2015

West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan is taking a vow of silence for the rest of the season after his fall-out with QPR striker Charlie Austin.

Standard Sport understands Sullivan will not do any more interviews once he has fulfilled pre-existing commitments in the next week.

The 66-year-old made the decision after his comments about Austin on a West Ham fans’ podcast made the headlines and were met with a furious response from the QPR forward.

West Ham were believed to have made an enquiry for the 26-year-old but Sullivan insisted he is not worth QPR’s £15m asking price because the player has “no ligaments in his knee”.

Austin hit back last night saying: “I feel I have no option but to address the inaccurate, misleading and uninformed innuendo.

“For a senior figure at a Premier League club to insinuate that I could break down at any moment is an outrageous slur on my professionalism and the work that has gone into making me the footballer than I am today.”

Sullivan released a statement to apologise and clarify his comments via his son Jack on Twitter.

It read: “I am sorry that Mr Austin has taken my comments out of context. He is a player I greatly admire.

“However, he failed a medical at Hull two years ago. Clearly an old injury left a severe doubt with the Hull medical team about the longevity of his career.

“I fully accept he is playing well and the old injury is not impacting upon him at this moment in time.”

While Sullivan will not speak to the media or supporters’ groups, he may still offer his views to the official club website.

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