New West Ham supremo sets sights on Champions League
But the Hammers’ Icelandic chairman-in-waiting vowed to build that success from the bottom up, by enhancing the Hammers’ reputation for producing the best young players in England.
Magnusson is set to take over as chairman after West Ham accepted his offer for the east London club – £85million plus an agreement to take on their £22.5million debt.
“I want every year to be competing for places in the Champions League, which I think is a very important step,” he declared.
“That is my ultimate ambition. It will not happen today or tomorrow. We will take it slowly and build on the foundations that are already here. You have been doing great things in developing young players and I look forward to strengthening so we can keep on getting English players out of West Ham.
“I want to recognise the great traditions of this club in developing young English players. I want to strengthen that further and put more emphasis on that work, so we keep producing great English players.”
Magnusson will step down from his position as president of the Icelandic Football Association.
He plans to retain his position on UEFA’s executive committee – but vowed that will not affect his commitment to West Ham.
“I am here to be a hands-on chairman. I want to fully commit to West Ham.
“I want everybody concerned – the staff, the supporters, everybody who loves and cares about West Ham – to know I come here to achieve great things for West Ham.”
Magnusson also expressed his complete faith in West Ham manager Alan Pardew.
“I think he is a great manager, he has done great things with West Ham,” the Icelander said.
“Last season was a great year and I fully believe he will help me take West Ham to the next stage.
“It is clear in my mind that there will be funds available for the manager in the January transfer window.
“He has absolute power over his team and it his decision who he wants to add to his squad.
“I will work very closely with him on what his desires are in the January window and going on to the next level.”
The Premier League maintain there can be no fundamental opposition to top-flight clubs being in foreign ownership, provided the businesses are run properly.
The Hammers will now join the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Fulham, whom all have non-British backers.
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