Daniel Kretinsky set to become West Ham’s largest shareholder as deal leaves Amanda Staveley out in the cold

West Ham’s long-running boardroom saga has reached a watershed. Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire who owns Royal Mail, has struck an agreement that will lift his stake in the Hammers to 46 per cent and install him as the club’s largest shareholder — and, in doing so, has shut the door on Amanda Staveley’s hopes of buying into east London.

How the deal came together

The agreement, first reported by BBC Sport, covers the 25 per cent of the club held by the Gold family and was struck with West Ham’s remaining shareholders, among them David Sullivan, who stood down as chairman in June.

The mechanics are quintessentially West Ham. A pre-emption rights pact at the London Stadium hands the club’s sitting directors the first opportunity to buy whenever a major holding changes hands, and it is understood that mechanism was activated before the deadline passed. The upshot: Kretinsky will buy a substantial portion of Sullivan’s shares, taking the Czech’s holding to 46 per cent, while Sullivan’s own stake edges up from 38.8 to 40 per cent.

The reshuffle ripples further down the register. Tripp Smith, the American investor, will lift his ownership to 11 per cent, with the club’s remaining shareholders sharing 3 per cent between them.

Staveley frozen out

For Staveley, the former Newcastle director who had spent the summer circling the club, this is a decisive setback. Co-chair Vanessa Gold had first committed to handing Kretinsky a slice of her holding once the claims against Sullivan surfaced — only to announce earlier this summer that her entire stake would instead go to Staveley.

That announcement tripped the pre-emption wire, and the established shareholders have now exercised their right to stand first in the queue. Staveley, in effect, has been left on the outside looking in, and her immediate route into the club appears to have closed.

Sullivan remains under scrutiny

Sullivan’s departure from the chairman’s office has not lessened the scrutiny on him. He has pledged to contest the claims levelled at him by a joint BBC Panorama and Times investigation, and his position at the club is already being examined by the independent football regulator.

That watchdog has confirmed its enquiries into Sullivan’s suitability under its owners, directors and senior executives regime remain active and ongoing, and that it is in contact with the relevant authorities as part of the process. Significantly, though, this latest share rearrangement will not prompt any further examination.

What it means for West Ham

Kretinsky first bought into West Ham in 2021, and the intervening years have been anything but serene: questions over succession, protests over the direction of travel and, latterly, a summer of boardroom intrigue that has dominated talk around the club. Consolidating his position at 46 per cent gives the Czech financier — who also owns Sparta Prague — a decisive voice, even if outright control remains a step beyond.

The Gold family’s 25 per cent has been the outstanding question since the season began; it now has an answer. What nobody connected with the club has offered, however, is a word of explanation — Kretinsky, Gold, Sullivan and West Ham alike have all stayed silent on the arrangement.

For supporters, the hope must be that certainty at the top brings stability after months in which the boardroom has generated more headlines than the team. West Ham have rarely done things quietly. On this evidence, they have no intention of starting now.