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By William Kemble-Diaz
LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - London soccer club West Ham United'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 pound ($148.3 million) buyout of the east London club in November 2006.
He invested another 30.5 million pounds in West Ham in December 2007 after buying a further 5 percent 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, said the club was not for sale and that the owner remained "as committed as ever," in spite of the financial crisis.
"All at the club remain focused on taking West Ham United forward and these developments have no implications and no impact for the club," a spokeswoman said.
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.
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 turnstile 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 30 million pounds ($55.74 million) was widely reported. West Ham made a 22 million pound pretax loss in the 2006-07 financial year.
Double click for a factbox of English Premier League clubs under foreign ownership.
For a story on English soccer clubs' indebtedness, click on
