By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Amanda Staveley has wasted little time in pushing herself back to the forefront of the West Ham news following an article in The Times outlining her ambitions to buy a significant stake in the club.
Takeover talk had mostly died down around the match weekend, largely due to West Ham signing Joel Veltman, lining up the transfer of Manor Solomon and, of course, clinching the 3-1 Carabao Cup victory against Portsmouth.
With the potential transfer of Troy Parrott hopefully imminent within the next few days, the Staveley versus Křetínský battle for power at West Ham had slipped to the back of most people’s minds.
However, it appears the lull in football news has afforded the former Newcastle co-owner another opportunity to press her credentials as to why she should become a significant stakeholder in West Ham.
David Sullivan attended the London Stadium for West Ham’s opener
Staveley has her eyes on London Stadium
The Times report that should Staveley obtain a significant shareholding in the club, she would then look at buying the London Stadium.
The venue is currently making an average annual loss of around £19 million, and the possibility of West Ham one day owning the stadium has long been viewed as potentially transformative for the club.
Indeed, we looked at the enormous potential value of the London Stadium and surrounding area earlier this summer when examining Daniel Křetínský’s long-term ambitions for West Ham.
It also adds another dimension to Staveley’s interest in the Hammers, which has been bubbling away since she publicly refused to rule out investing in the club back in June.
Ownership battle still has a long way to run
Clearly, this ongoing battle has a long way to run and, until we know the destination of Vanessa Gold’s shares, we’re unlikely to know what the next move will be.
The entire situation has become increasingly complicated since Křetínský’s proposed purchase of part of Gold’s holding was announced in June.
For anyone struggling to keep track of who owns what, our West Ham ownership guide explains the wider shareholding structure and how the balance of power currently works.
But with former chairman David Sullivan seemingly happy to run the gauntlet of disgruntlement from supporters and board members alike, it doesn’t look as though his 38% shareholding will become available anytime soon.
That means the immediate battle remains centred around Vanessa Gold’s shares.
And Staveley’s reported ambition to eventually buy the London Stadium suggests she’s certainly thinking far beyond simply becoming a passive West Ham investor.
The Buffalo Bills NFL team, this weekend opened their brand new Highmark Stadium, an exact copy of the Spuds new White Hart Lane place
If Staveley or the Czech builds us fans a similar football stadium so that it can be full all summer long with concerts (far better travelling facilities for fans than either Wembley or Spuds), providing whoever is running our football club with significant income to support the club, then I for one support them.
Let us all have a football stadium, save the London taxpayer a fortune whilst Staveley or whoever makes a bundle on development
She has no real wealth (in terms of buying a large football club c.5% of Kretinsky’s wealth) and just looks to earn a commission off being the face of anonymous consortium’s who are looking to clean up by demolishing the stadium, building luxury apartments and moving us to god knows where in a cheap tinpot stadium with little capacity. The integrity of the club is at stake and Staveley has to fail otherwise the future of the club is very bleak.
All about the land , Westham are just a front for what she REALLY wants
She will sell once she has earned the money then where will that leave us Another selling club like palace and now Newcastle
This is a question to Gonzo or someone that can answer with any certainty
If our stadium is bought or rebuilt will it be owned by West Ham , will it be ours or will it belong to Stavely or Kretinski or their consortiums because surely one of the advantages of this will be us actually having our own stadium rather than paying rent.
Oh for the days and nights under the lights back at the.old girl when she was rocking
Lots of talk from DK/AS regarding reconfiguring the stadium. But at the same time the club have agreed to back the 2029 athletics bid. Don’t trust either of them as they are only interested in money not the clubs welfare
If the IFR come to the correct conclusion of their investigation then Sullivan will be forced to sell. This is a man who apart from grooming young girls and his predation years back, has been banned from contact with Women’s and Academy teams.
How can a man with this record be regarded as having “honesty and integrity” ?
On your bike, Sulli ‘ !!
Totally agree Kenny it’s always baffled me how someone who has an explicit exclusion order towards children and females can still hold a major holding in the club. And it reflects badly on DK because he must have known as it’s been in place since 2023
She sounds like an asset stripper to me. Buy the stadium and redevelope the land.