The battle for the boardroom at West Ham United seems far from over, according to new reports from sources close to the club. Whilst the shareholder deal – reportedly – has been done behind closed doors to shut out would-be buyer Amanda Staveley and her consortium, there’s a long way to go yet before Staveley runs the white flag up the pole and heads off to other projects.
The land around London Stadium has been in the news recently with Mayor Sadiq Khan commissioning a consultancy report on how best to develop the area.
Whether publicly flexing his muscles to make any prospective buyer of the football club aware that he’s not just going to cave in and sell it all as part of a deal to offload the colossal loss making Olympic venue – or that he’s simply getting his ducks in a row ahead of negotiations with West Ham’s owners over a sale of the football stadium and surrounds- who knows.
the Mayor has commissioned a report regarding value and possible uses of the land surrounding West Ham’s home
Frustrated would-be buyer Amanda Staveley is undeterred, despite losing out in the bid for Vanessa Gold’s shares and her further attempt to buy out David Sullivan. Her stated aim to ‘do a deal with a property element attached‘ has meant that the public availability for sale of of Everton Football Club has not piqued hers, nor her consortium’s interest, and that she still very definitely has West Ham in her sights.
Insider Ex WHUEmployee, reported on thewesthamway.com, has made it very clear that, despite the availability of other Premier League clubs, West Ham is still very much on the mind of Amanda Staveley and her consortium:
“We understand that Amanda Staveley and her consortium’s interest is still very much in West Ham, this is despite the fact Everton have been made available for sale by their owners….
It appears it’s a waiting game and a move for the club could be revisited at a later date, when a deal could potentially be struck.”
Whilst London Stadium’s surrounds and it’s huge development potential remains untapped and possibly negotiable as part of any deal to transfer the football stadium into West Ham’s ownership, both Staveley and her consortium will sit and wait for an opening should David Sullivan signal that the time is right to divest himself of his own shareholding.
Of course, Kretinsky has already repelled her hostile bid once: Only time will tell whether he has the appetite for another fight for David Sullivan’s £300 million plus shareholding.
There seems to be a sentiment that Staveley by coming to a game and waving her scarf is a true fan – what I am not sure of is while she was initially very good for Newcastle, how much responsibility does she hold for the current mess that they find themselves in
Nothing would make me happier than to see the back of Sullivan forever, but presumably he will wait to see if we get promoted so that he can get a better price for his shares – I am not sure if Staveley is prepared to pay Premier League prices while we are still in the championship
Still a long and messy process I fear
i read a few years ago that west ham have first option on any deal for the ground.
not sure you would buy it without the naming rights and catering/ food and drink being part of the deal otherwise it’s pointless.
what west ham can do is be very stubborn and pretty much stop everyone else using it other than for a couple of months.
everyone knows Sullivan loves a pound note, come up with the right price and come on down.
In some ways Stavely etc need us to not go up and add the pressure to existing shareholders/ increase council losses….
ffs give it a rest
More manoeuvring yet to come no doubt. I believe Khan and Staveley will reach an agreement, leading to an increased offer that the board may this time accept. That’s my hope at least…
It appears that after the tantalizing story of West Ham buying half of the East End for next to nothing and turning it all into Football Mecca, there is actually a scenario whereby the land around the existing stadium could be sold off to developers and West Ham subsequently squeezed out of Stratford? It will be interesting to see if the existing board does have the appetite for that fight.