Skip to main content

Czech mate at West Ham?

Daniel Kretinsky is poised to become the largest shareholder at West Ham United amid the continuing uncertainty around David Sullivan’s future with the club. 

As The Times reported last weekend, club insiders believe the Czech billionaire will respond to Sullivan’s resignation as co-chairman — a decision he took in advance of the publication of a joint investigation by The Times and the BBC into allegations of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour when he was making his fortune in the adult industry — by increasing his control of the club, who were relegated from the Premier League last month.

At present Kretinsky has a 27 per cent share, with Sullivan’s 38.8 per cent now under the scrutiny of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) in the wake of the allegations. 

Sullivan, 77, denies any wrongdoing but the IFR could yet force the British businessman to divest his shares if it now follows its preliminary inquiries by launching an investigation that concludes he no longer meets the required standards of honesty and integrity to be a football club owner. 

It remains to be seen if Kretinsky ends up securing part or all of Sullivan’s stake, but another option open to him would be to buy the shares belonging to Vanessa Gold, who inherited them from her father, David, after he died in 2023. It is understood such discussions have already taken place.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hull City's 'strange' loan

When football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems flashing lights in a club's loan deal, I become concerned.  He is the leading football finance expert in the UK. Hull City have borrowed £55m against their stadium and training ground yet they should get £30m from the Premier League before long.  What is going on? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpwel48y51do
Post a Comment
Read more

Fulham cost the owner £1.4m a week

Things have changed a lot at Craven Cottage since Tommy Cooper was chairman.  Fulham are arguably London’s poshest club.  As their chief executive has said, Fulham supporters turn left on the plane.   I remember going there some years ago and was placed next to home supporters who were wearing suits.   The club also experimented for a while with having a section for ‘neutral’ fans. The following analysis draws on the latest report from the Swiss Ramble.   The accounts are now a year old, but as the forensic analyst observes from his Zurich lair, the business model remains much the same. i.e, the amount the owner has to shell put would consume all my non-property assets in five days. Under Silva, Fulham have established themselves as a solid Premier League club, losing their tag as a “yo-yo” club. Before the arrival of the Portuguese coach, on the previous two occasions that they were promoted to the top flight they had failed to avoid an immediate ...
2 comments
Read more