By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
The Times Sport this lunchtime is reporting news from Daniel Kretinsky which is sure to get West Ham fans’ hearts racing.
The Czech billionaire is currently attempting to take full control of the football club following David Sullivan’s resignation as chairman and the fallout from the allegations and scrutiny which have surrounded the former owner in recent days.
With preparations for West Ham’s Championship campaign seemingly stalled while the ownership situation is resolved, it is understandable that supporters have become increasingly nervous about both the short and long-term future of the club.
However, The Times, who appear to have been well briefed by the Kretinsky camp, have reported that the Czech shareholder is intent on buying all of David Sullivan’s remaining shares.
Big Ambitions For The London Stadium
The report goes much further than ownership.
It suggests Kretinsky not only wants to improve the London Stadium but also ultimately acquire the site outright and relocate UK Athletics.
If that wasn’t ambitious enough, the report paints the picture of an owner with significant long-term plans for the football club.
For years, West Ham supporters have spoken about the limitations of being tenants rather than owners.
Should Kretinsky genuinely harbour ambitions of controlling the stadium outright, it would represent a significant shift in the club’s future direction.
Aiming For An Immediate Return
The other eye-catching element of the report is the suggestion that Kretinsky wants to retain as many of West Ham’s current players as possible.
The intention, according to The Times, would be to give the club the best possible chance of securing an immediate return to the Premier League.
That alone would be music to the ears of supporters concerned about a fire sale following relegation.
Whether that proves possible remains to be seen, particularly given the interest in players such as Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville.
But the ambition itself is encouraging.
West Ham Fans Have Heard Promises Before
Of course, there will be a degree of caution.
West Ham supporters have been here before.
Most will remember the famous ten-point plan and promises of world-class football in a world-class stadium.
Words are easy.
Delivering on them is rather harder.
That said, after a relentless stream of bad news over recent weeks, it is at least refreshing to hear talk of ambition, investment and long-term planning rather than cost-cutting and crisis management.
Whether all of it comes to pass remains to be seen.
But for the first time in quite a while, there are at least reasons for West Ham supporters to feel a little optimistic.
seriously viable, and a very well put rogether presentation, mate. i hope the board have a squizz at your video. you just may be offered a job! aside from that, i can tell you that i have a very keen interest in architecture. that stadium is gorgeous, my friend. makes the Birmingham stadium look like a cartoon. you’ve given it a lovely gothic touch which makes it look frightening, like the Colosseum. teams go there to die 😆 my only question is…does it have a chicken run? 🤷🏻♂️
Before I get my hopes up, can someone check DK for Icelandic heritage 😂
It’s the hope that kills you.
Please, please, please. COYI ⚒️⚒️⚒️
I would like this story to have legs, but I can’t see where this is being reported by the Times. Not in their online news, nor in their x feeds.
Gonzo, didn’t like it,
I absolutely loved it!
Tapping into our history and reflecting it in the stadium design is genius.
Moreover, kudos to you for a narrative that is forward thinking and most importantly, feasible.
Well done for putting the presentation together.
I pray that it gains the traction it merits.
Would there still be a transfer embargo if an official takeover bid is launched?
Not sure if that rule still applies but it would be so West Ham to be taken over but not buy players until everyone, including the League, sign off.
He is an astute businessman after all, and I am sure they have explored the possibility of purchasing the stadium and the surrounding land. I’m sure they could reuse a lot of the materials in the current stadium to build a new proper smaller one.
Gonzo, your video was brilliant, loved the stadium mock up. Lets hope Kretinsky gives it a watch and takes some inspiration from it.
I somehow missed the video until you mentioned it.
Gonzo, hats off mate 👏 Superb 👌 I salute your time and effort and it would be a dream come true if this happens in my lifetime. BTW, loved your stadium concept which certainly celebrates our heritage. Unlike Brady’s idea of wanting to rebrand us previously as Olympic West Ham or whatever garbage it was!
I actually grew up in Stratford and totally agree it’s nothing like when I was a kid in the 70’s / 80’s
This would leave the London Olympic Legacy vision in total tatters.
Take the whole Olympic Park, divide it up into sellable lots and then allow speculators to fill it all with whatever makes most profit.
Hell look out – here we come.
It’s better than a load of flats that are now where Upton Park used to be!
Seb Coe is the reason the stadium is a financial disaster for tax payers.
He can do one!
In business terms it makes sense..with many people looking to own a football club and the possible riches that come if in the Prem why would you sell a club you no has massive support and can only get bigger if the right infrastructure is put in place…People like DK do not become as wealthy as they are without vision and long term planning and i have no doubt he would of foreseen the very real prospect of relegation and a chance to acquire a bigger stake at a lower cost but how this has snowballed in the last week may have come as a small if not pleasant surprise for someone in his position.
If able to broker a deal and purchase the land that the Stadium sits on and with his connections this will become highly profitable for him and undoubtedly other business partners and the cost of demolishing the ground and building an all new purpose built football stadium is just a cost they would build into the project….Khan is rumoured to be open to a deal and get the constant gripe of Tax payers paying for the football club would be a thorn he would love to get rid of…the one fly in the ointment for me is Seb Coe and his athletics legacy nonsense.
The stadium would never have been sold to West Ham whilst Brady and Sullivan were still at the club.
It is not sustainable for tax payers or athletics to fund the stadium. I’m pretty confident that DK will be viewed completely differently with no stigma attached.
If we can buy then remodel the lower bowl we could end up with the home we were promised after leaving our’ beloved Upton Park.
agree and with LGA/Khan open to progress on the LS it makes this all the more feasible.
Enough shares have to be transferred to DK for it to be worth his while though
I’m optimistic that with DK in control he would run the club in a professional manner.
With Sullivan as the key decision maker it has stymied DK’s influence. I genuinely believe we will eventually become the club we aspire to be under DK.
We’ve had to endure 16 years of Sullivan. Mike Ashley was similar at Newcastle and now look at them.
The future will bring no better days! ⚒️
Future will bring better days!
DK is a businessman. I don’t think he’ll be happy to sit on his 27% stake (or whatever it is) while we tread water. He wants to make the business more valuable, either to increase profits, or generate a more lucrative future sale. I’m sure there will some decisions we don’t like, but there reasons for optimism.
I didn’t think that someone could have the decisive influence over two European clubs playing in the same European competition at the same time. If Sparta Prague and West Ham ever ended up in the same European competition (unlikely for a few years i guess), we would either be demoted to a lesser competition, such as Palace were this season, or if it was the Conference League we were due to play in, kicked out of it altogether.
Therefore, is DK really likely to take ownership of the majority of shares? Or is there a way around this?
Not sure that what everyone is talking about happening is going to…
There are ways to circumnavigate the possibility of both teams being in the same competition. I’m not astute enough to explain, but there are ways to get round it.
Oops, Rob. Sam Allardyce gave up the England manager’s job after suggesting there were ways to get around football financial rules.
Take care – Panorama and The Telegraph could be after you !!!
Marinakis placed NFFC into a ‘ blind trust’.
If there’s a multi club ownership conflict, this is the work around.