LONDON (Reuters) - West Ham's finances were again put in the spotlight on Tuesday after the Icelandic bank chaired by the English football club's billionaire owner was put into receivership, the latest victim of global financial turmoil.

The Icelandic government said it was taking control of Landsbanki LAIS.IC, the island's second largest bank by value, as the country's financial system threatened to collapse and its currency plunged.

West Ham, already reeling from the loss of its shirt sponsor last month after the collapse of tour operator XL Leisure, could not be reached for comment.

The mid-sized club is also appealing against a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS.L that it pay compensation to a rival club, which could run into tens of millions of pounds.

Owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, erstwhile chairman of Landsbanki, led a 85 million pounds buyout of the east London club in November 2006.

He is Iceland's second richest person, after his son Thor, and invested another 30.5 million pounds in West Ham in December 2007 after buying a further 5 percent stake.

The Gudmundsson family are major shareholders of Landsbanki.

Richard Elliott, a lecturer in globalisation in football at Southampton Solent University, said English football 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.