WEST HAM S Icelandic owners have dismissed David Gold s bid to take control at Upton Park, writes DAVE EVANS. CB Holding, a subsidiary of Straumur, the troubled Icelandic bank, have valued the club at �120million including debts, but Stepney-born Gold has

WEST HAM'S Icelandic owners have dismissed David Gold's bid to take control at Upton Park, writes DAVE EVANS.

CB Holding, a subsidiary of Straumur, the troubled Icelandic bank, have valued the club at �120million including debts, but Stepney-born Gold has offered a deal worth �30million below the asking price.

It would seem that this first official offer from Gold and his footballing business partner David Sullivan, may be just the beginning of real negotiations between the two parties.

CB Holding insist that they have no reason to sell the club in the current economic climate, and an insider at Straumur confirmed that despite this week's revelations with Gold and Sullivan, nothing has materialised to change that view.

It is understood that CB Holding are unhappy with the way that Gold and Sullivan seem to be conducting a lot of their business in the media, but they insist it is business as usual at Upton Park.

Gold's bid of �50million made to Rothschild and Standard Bank, who have been appointed to handle any offers for the club, included taking on the debt of some �40million.

But with parent company Straumur set to be given breathing space by their creditors to continue the reorganisation of their beleaguered firm, they feel that the time and the price is not right to sell their greatest asset.

Two other parties are still said to be interested in making a bid for the club.

Tony Fernandes, owner of the Air Asia company, and the London-based Intermarket Group, have both had talks with Rothschilds about the financial position of West Ham, but at the moment, neither are close to making an official bid.

One complication to be thrown into the mix, however, is West Ham's perilous situation in the Premier League.

While they sit in the bottom three, with the possibility of relegation looming, Straumur may consider it wiser to sell the club, rather than risk it depreciating markedly if they were to fall into the Championship.