A flurry of press releases – if that is the proper collective noun – have been produced this afternoon with West Ham themselves winning the award for ‘least useful statement’ by merely confirming:
“West Ham United notes the announcement that Daniel Křetínský, via 1890s Holdings, has reached an agreement to acquire the requisite number of shares to become the single largest shareholder at the Club. The Club will not be making any further comment until all transactions are complete.“ (whufc.com)
This with a nod to the fact that hundreds of millions of pounds now has to be transferred within a couple of weeks to render the share transfers completed, and no doubt, the club’s own lawyers keep a firm hand on content in the meantime.
Daniel Kretinsky, in a rare public statement, was more forthcoming:
“I am deeply honoured to have the opportunity to become the largest shareholder of this great club. I appreciate the responsibility this brings and do not take it lightly.
I would like to thank all continuing shareholders for their constructive efforts to enable this outcome and provide the club with the certainty it needs at this critical time.
I look forward to communicating further with our supporters once the transactions are complete.”
Which means we’ll be hearing more from the man who will be in charge (but no doubt ‘hands off’ in leadership style) at London Stadium in a couple of weeks.
Once the share transfers are completed and registered, he’ll be the 46% majority shareholder, reliant upon an alliance with one of the minority shareholders to maintain control over the club – hence the importance of the statement to come and the signatories attached to it.
Unity between Kretinsky and minority owners such as Tripp Smith will be essential for the Czech to remain in control, so the next statement issued by the board, once the shares have been transferred – will be pretty telling in terms of the make up of the new – era West Ham board (Mark 2).
Where does he confirm who’s “really in the driving seat?”
Look how badly he is Running Royal Mail
Royal Mail was a mess that Goverment were glad to jettison and it will take time to sort out. These days everyone one wants instant results, social media to blame!!
I have lost count of the number of times “majority shareholder” is trotted out across multiple platforms….!
Kretinsky will become the “largest shareholder”, not the majority shareholder, there is a significant difference.
Give him time and Mr Sphinx will be a success,just look at the outgoing transfers see how they worked ,silence no extra comments and did good business.
Rome was not build in one day and Mr Sphinx needs to rectify past mistakes.
Patience my friends.
Kretinsky is professional, the complete opposite to Sullivan in that sense. Lets see how it floats…
If Sullivan has 40 and smith has 11 then I would suggest smith is in fact the most important share holder if the two main shareholders aren’t in agreement.
Something fishy going on there and perhaps the true reason for Sullivan increasing his shares.
Stagnation is all this points to me…nothing will change the board will do the bare minimum on the football side the ground will still be the dump that it is and oh yeah we can have a say on the badge…….Tripp Smith DK and DS can go because they have no will or want to change anything except the money that they are going to make.
He will be tge largest shareholder but not the majority shareholder
I want Sullivan nowhere near our club , he is a disgrace . I hope there is a plan to get his shares and get him out . As a fan I cannot see him put our club under scrutiny for the wrong reasons. He has shamed the club , get him out and DK gain a few more shares up to 49.9 % for example .
What I take from all this Martin is that he is honoured to be the largest shareholder but he does not want (or cannot afford) overall control. Therefore he will not be putting in any funds unless Sullivan does the same because he does not want his shareholding to go over the 50%. So again we are hamstrung by our board and forced to finance future squad investment by further player sales or more borrowing. But please will someone correct me if I’m wrong because I hope I am. Not sure if I am prepared to take Kretinsky’s fine words on face value at this point.
It has been made clear many times that if Kretinsky was to take over 50 percent of the shares he would be obligated to offer to buy other shares at an inflated price. Unsurprisingly he’s chosen not to.
That does not mean he is not interested in investing in the club. Just that he doesn’t want to spend more than he has to. No different to the rest of us, I would think.
I am no expert, so I am only offering my opinion. From what I have read Kretinsky is happy to be the major shareholder, but does not always want to be the over the 50 percent shareholder. That does not mean he is not interested or not willing to invest. It just means what it says.
Some people are complaining that Kretinsky is too hands off and not seen enough at the LS. But haven’t most of us for a long time wanted the board, & notably Sullivan, to butt out of the football side and have professionals who know what they’re doing to run the club, and especially the football side ? Isn’t that what it looks like Kretinsky is planning to do ? Is that the way Sparta Prague is run ? We should all be prepared to give this a chance and seen where it takes us.
On balance I think this is the best outcome. Staveley’s investors are looking at us as a property transaction and remember its not her money mostly at risk. She dipped in at Newcastle and result short term success plus Ashley out. Now left and have sold best players, sacked manager and in bottom half of table. Suspect she made a nice bonus from sale! Kretinsky has experience of owning a top club Sparta Prague and has a solid business background.
I don’t think he’s done too bad at Slavia Prague. And contrary to all those on here who say he’s not a football fan. He is. Slavia Prague is his team and he bought them. He understands the passion of supporting a football club, but he also has the ability to be professional in the running and management of the club. That is why he hires people better equipped to to manage the club than he is.
Will we be getting a CEO and directors to run the club on behalf of the board and will it take the profits gained in the transfer window to pay them?
If we get a CEO and other professionals to run the club, that seems to be universally agreed to have been completely mismanaged for years. Then yes I expect them to be paid a salary. As to taking the profits, I think it is very well known that we have none.