“Where’s The Ambition?” West Ham Debt Questions Grow Despite Kretinsky Fortune

One of the things I hear quite frequently from West Ham fans is: “I wish we had billionaire owners.”

Well . . . we do.

And depending on which rich list you read, whether it be the Sunday Times or Forbes, Hammers shareholder Daniel Křetínský is worth somewhere between £8bn and £9bn.

At the time of writing, he is currently ranked as the 24th richest person in the British Isles and therefore, I would suggest, we already have the very man in place to subsidise West Ham’s future.

It is Claret & Hugh’s understanding that Kretinsky is in line to become a joint major shareholder alongside David Sullivan by snapping up shares from the Gold family estate, which would leave both men holding around 40% equity in the club.

With that in mind, you really have to ask the question: why are West Ham borrowing money at high interest rates from the likes of Rights and Media Funding?

Kieran Maguire Called It “Very Strange”

It’s the sort of borrowing which football finance expert Kieran Maguire once described to me as “very strange”.

West Ham are said to be looking at debts well beyond £200m and have borrowed heavily against future income, including money owed from player sales.

Ordinarily, football clubs spread transfer payments over fixed periods, usually three years.

Unfortunately for West Ham, whilst we owe well over £100m for players we’ve bought, the club is reportedly only due around £3m back from players sold because so much future income has already been borrowed against.

And of course, that borrowing comes at the cost of significant interest payments.

West Ham’s Problem Isn’t Lack Of Wealth

One might understand these desperate measures if the club were under the guidance of ‘skint’ owners but that’s not the case.

West Ham seem increasingly like a club to be drifting towards a situation where the owners themselves may eventually need to bail us out.

And that could come after selling much of the family silver in the shape of Matheus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville, Jarrod Bowen and Konstantinos Mavropanos.

It’s difficult not to think about precisely these things when looking at the Sunday Times rich list and the combined wealth of West Ham’s ownership group.

Kretinsky, Sullivan — who is still reportedly worth over £1.1bn — and Albert ‘Tripp’ Smith are all immensely wealthy men.

With four major shareholders, it really says something when the “poorest” among them is reportedly attached to a fortune of around £127m.

That alone tells you West Ham’s problem isn’t a lack of rich owners.

It’s the willingness to invest and the ambition to properly push the club forward which increasingly feels like the real issue.