By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X).
With the dust beginning to settle from Monday night’s Panorama exposé on David Sullivan, one thing has become abundantly clear.
West Ham are currently a club in limbo.
Whilst many had hoped the broadcast of the documentary would finally draw a line under Sullivan’s ownership of the football club, it appears to have created even more uncertainty.
There now seems little prospect of a return for the former chairman, and yesterday’s revelation that he was banned from involvement with West Ham’s women’s and academy teams in 2023 has only made his position more difficult.
The new football regulator is now looking into Sullivan’s ownership position for one very simple reason.
Despite resigning from his executive role, he still owns 38% of the football club and remains West Ham’s largest shareholder.
Kretinsky Cannot Take Control Yet
Whilst Sullivan appears to be digging his heels in, prospective new owner Daniel Kretinsky is unable to take full control of the football club.
With several executive positions now vacant, it would be fair to describe West Ham as rudderless.
There remains a scenario where, if matters are resolved quickly, the club could mount a serious challenge for promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
But the longer this situation drags on, the harder that task becomes.
At present, it seems almost impossible for West Ham to properly begin the recruitment process because, as Claret & Hugh reported earlier this week, there is currently nobody in place to oversee it.
The Ownership Puzzle Remains
One would imagine Kretinsky is unlikely to inject significant capital into the football club to address its debts whilst David Sullivan remains the largest shareholder.
However, the events of the last few days have offered little indication that Sullivan is prepared to sell his stake.
That leaves Kretinsky with limited options.
Should he wish to take control outright, he would likely need to acquire Vanessa Gold’s 25% shareholding, which would take his ownership beyond 50%.
Even that may prove unpalatable.
After all, any improvement in the club’s fortunes under Kretinsky’s stewardship would still directly benefit Sullivan financially through the value of his remaining shares.
For that reason, the cleanest solution for everybody involved would be for Sullivan to sell his entire stake to Kretinsky.
My concern is that outcome now feels further away than it did at the weekend.
With every passing day, Sullivan appears increasingly painted into a corner.
Well if he loves the club as much as he says he does he needs to do the right thing and selll up. Let the club have a fresh start.
All a bit defeatist here, a salient point being the bookies have West Ham as clear odds-on 8/13 favourites to go straight back up.
Chris, it is the same bookies who had Leeds and Sunderland as favourites for relegation and us at 7/1 for the season just gone.
It is the club that are in a difficult position. Sully is a billionaire with a chunk of his wealth invested in the 38% shareholding.
Unless Kretinsky is prepared to buy out both the Golds and Sully I don’t see a way forward.
Until something of that nature happens we cannot move forward. I suspect we are going to be stuck in the championship beyond next season
I suspect Kretinsky was well aware about the FA safeguarding and allegations against Sullivan.
Wouldn’t you wait until the possible opportunity of an enforced sale at a heavily reduced amount to buyout and take full control?
I’ve always thought Kretinsky has been playing the long game at West Ham. He keeps his cards close to his chest and it wouldn’t surprise me if he goes all in when the time comes to play his winning hand.
D.f.butcher…….. am I reading that right? Are you actually siding with David Sullivan and suggesting that we would have been better off with him still in place? Wow 🤔.
Even after years of football and commercial incompetence……. and given what is now slowly slipping into the public domain about him……. and given the BBC’s claim that there was a safeguarding order on him to stay away from the youth and women’s teams…….. and you still think we would be better off with him? I’m lost for words.
Whatever the short term consequences I don’t want that man anywhere near my club, ever again. Please sell your shares and go away Mr. Sullivan – simple as.
It seems to me that all you anti Sullivan protestors really put a lot of thought into the aftermath of such a move, hence the saying be careful what you wish for, we are in danger of remaining firmly fixed in the lower leagues , if that’s the case I would like to express to you and your cohorts “well b****y done”?
You seem to have forgot who put us in this mess living hand to mouth on loans Sullivan isn’t the answer he’s the problem were in so much debt surviving on pay day loans, despite his past he’s the one that’s ruined this football club and practically bankrupt us , the final straw was loan from media rights, the same company that if they didn’t get taken over would have been in administration
Everton in administration
Well said Will 👏 The £130m loan and our financial cluster fcuk of a mess is due to Leadership individuals no longer in operational roles at the club.
Because of the above it makes a swift return to the Premiership a very difficult task.
We might have to experience more pain before we become a respected and progressive club.
To achieve the above we require a complete overhaul of the Leadership team, people capable of implementing a strategy and the infrastructure required to achieve our objectives.
None of the above has been implemented resulting in our inevitable demise and relegation.
Anyone remembered kretinsky is also president and co owner of Sparta prague
Yes, it is the same Kretinsky who is building a purpose built football stadium for Sparta, new training facilities and improved infrastructure for the women’s, reserve side and youth academy.
West Ham benefit from all of the above.
How we are not sparta Prague , he originally said he only wanted to be a silent partner at west ham because he likes to spread out into different pies
See my above reply to Ted Fenton.
BTW, I meant if West Ham had invested in new training facilities and infrastructure like Sparta we would benefit. We obviously won’t benefit from Sparta having these things in place. I missed a couple of words which made it misleading.