With the capacity to plunge West Ham into summer turmoil, a new report this afternoon has suggested Hammers’ minority billionaire shareholder Daniel Kretinksy is considering off loading his £200 million – worth of shares in the football club.
Released this afternoon, the ‘exclusive’ in tbrfootball.com claims Kretinsky is frustrated at David Sullivan’s stance at West Ham and is now looking to release his cash to invest inanojuther club in what would potentially be a hugely destabilising move. As tbrfootball report:
“TBR Football Chief Correspondent Graeme Bailey has been told that Kretinsky is becoming somewhat frustrated with how West Ham is being run.
The 49-year-old diversified billionaire is unwilling to wait much longer to increase his stake and is not confident that Sullivan, 76, will walk away any time soon. Kretinsky – who also co-owns 16-time Czech first division champions Sparta Prague – is understood to be looking at the feasibility of cashing in on his 27 per cent stake and reinvesting in another club.”
Czech billionaire Kretinsky owns a 27 per cent stake in West Ham United and has an option to purchase David Sullivan’s shares should the Hammers’ chairman decide to quit.
If Kretinsky decides to sell his own shares, there is a very limited market place for becoming a minority shareholder as benefits can be minimal without any degree of control that would normally come with such a huge investment for what has been described – in this report as – ‘the most expensive season ticket in football’.
West Ham are already trying to sell a proportion of the Gold family’s shares following the death of David Gold –having appointed Rothschild and Co in 2023 no investor has yet materialised.
