Former Birmingham City owners David Gold and David Sullivan are reported to have made a £42million takeover bid for West Ham United.

Gold, 72 admitted back in October he would seriously consider joining forces with his long-term business partner Sullivan to buy their boyhood club.

And according to The Guardian they have now submitted an offer to Rothschild, the bank who were appointed recently to try and find new owners for the cash-strapped Hammers.

The offer is said to comprise of two proposals; one an outright bid to assume full control at Upton Park and the second, to purchase a 50 per cent stake at around £21million which would provide boss Gianfranco Zola with vital transfer funds.

Straumur, the largest shareholder in CB Holdings who assumed control of the club earlier this year following the financial demise of previous Icelandic owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, is understood to be giving 'serious consideration' to the bid.

However, the offer on the table is well short of the £80million that the Hammers' owners are believed to be seeking, and chairman Andrew Bernhardt has insisted the current ownership structure are under no pressure to sell.

If this is genuinely the case then Gold and Sullivan's bid could be blown out of the water with the club waiting for a more substantial fee, although interest from abroad seems to have cooled in recent weeks.