Under-fire West Ham co-owner David Sullivan was not going to be in attendance at the Etihad Stadium prior to West Ham's match against Manchester City being postponed.
Sullivan has been away in Dubai since watching the Hammers capitulate in spectacular fashion against Brighton in the Premier League last weekend as two goals in the final 15 minutes gave the Seagulls a share of the points in a 3-3 draw.
Sullivan and co-owner David Gold, as well as vice-chairman Karren Brady, have come in for huge stick in recent weeks from both supporters and the media for their running of the club, with prominent fan group Hammers United - who want the trio out of the club - gaining huge momentum.
Hammers United held a protest prior to the 1-1 draw against Liverpool last month, and were planning to hand out leaflets at the Etihad on Sunday.
They also have a black balloon release planned for the trip to Liverpool later this month and second static protest planned at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park prior to the game against Southampton on February 29.
It has been a rough start to 2020 for the co-owners, particularly following the release of the club accounts for 2018/19 - with a £28.2m loss reported, as well as a pay rise for Baroness Brady.
The board sacked manager Manuel Pellegrini after a run of two wins in 12 games at the end of 2019 and replaced him with David Moyes, who has won one game since taking over. That was on New Year’s Day, and the Hammers have since dropped into the relegation zone.
The club has also been taking on the media in recent weeks. Sky Sports were forced into an apology on their Sunday Supplement programme after supposed "factual inaccuracies" over the running of the club and the Rush Green training ground.
West Ham's Premier League game with Man City was called off at around 11am on Sunday morning after most Hammers fans had already started making their trips to the north west.
The UK is currently being battered by Storm Ciara, which has brought travel chaos and is one of the main reasons, along with the safety of supporters, staff and everyone else that would have been at the Etihad this afternoon, that the game was called off.
