West Ham United's boardroom has turned into the most engaging fixture on the club's calendar this summer. Amanda Staveley has a provisional deal in place to buy Vanessa Gold's 25.1% stake, but Daniel Krětinský has responded with a calculated maneuver of his own, one designed to let him swallow the Gold shares himself without triggering a clause that could cost him a small fortune.
The trigger in question goes back to 2021, when Krětinský first bought into the club and signed a shareholders' agreement alongside David Sullivan and David Gold. Buried in that agreement is a trigger: if Krětinský's holding ever passes 50%, he becomes obligated to buy out David Sullivan's 38.8% stake at a price set under terms agreed back then. That number is reported to be well above what Sullivan's shares would fetch on the open market today. It's a poison pill built to stop any one party from quietly assembling full control, and for months it looked like the wall Krětinský couldn't get past if he wanted the Gold family's shares too.
Introducing Jakub Havrlant
Krětinský's solution has been to shrink before he grows. According to The Times, he has transferred just over 2% of his 27% holding to Jakub Havrlant, a fellow Czech entrepreneur and investor, taking his own stake to just under 25%. It may look like a minor reshuffle, but it's the opposite. With his own holding reduced, Krětinský can now use his pre-emption rights to buy the entirety of Gold's 25.1% stake and land just under the 50% line rather than well over it, sidestepping the Sullivan buyout clause entirely. Havrlant, for his part, has already spoken positively about West Ham's long-term prospects and hasn't ruled out increasing his own stake down the line.
"I am convinced that with the right strategy and support, the club can fulfill its potential both on and off the pitch."New 2% shareholder Jakub Havrlant
In a statement released by his company Rockaway Capital he said: "Joining the West Ham United family is a huge honour for me. West Ham is a club with a remarkable history, an incredibly loyal and passionate fan base and an ambitious vision for the future. I believe I am joining the club at the right time as it represents an attractive opportunity with significant long-term potential. I am convinced that with the right strategy and support, the club can fulfill its potential both on and off the pitch. I am very happy to become part of this great institution, and in the future I am open to increasing my share to support the long-term development and continued success of the club."
Where That Leaves Staveley
Staveley's PCP Capital Partners consortium, working with Ashland Forest Capital Partners, has a signed agreement with Gold worth somewhere in the region of £150-160m for the 25.1% stake, but that agreement was never a completed purchase. West Ham's existing shareholders hold pre-emption rights, meaning Krětinský, Sullivan, Terry Brown and Tripp Smith get the chance to match Staveley's terms and buy the shares themselves before any outside investor can. That process runs in two rounds and is expected to take around two months, with a resolution likely by September or October. If Krětinský simply matches what Staveley has offered, the shares are his, not hers. There would be no fight over price required, just the right to match it.
EXCLUSIVE: Staveley "We're going for all of it" ... Amanda Staveley has never actually spoken to Daniel Kretinsky directly about West Ham, leading to a game of chess. At first, Kretinsky refused to play but now he has to. #WHUFC #coyi @fansided #takeoverhttps://t.co/qDAhsMMAvu
— Green St. Hammers (@GreenStHammers) August 3, 2026
Sullivan, who stepped down as joint-chairman in June amid misconduct allegations he denies, continues to hold his 38.8% shares. He has remained quiet on Staveley’s interest in buying into the club. Krětinský has expressed frustration on record after Gold's announcement, saying the earlier arrangement with the Gold family had "provided stability for the club at a crucial time." Gold herself framed her decision to sell to Staveley as being about securing "the right leadership and ownership" for the club going forward. Clearly Krětinský feels he is the right leader to bring West Ham forward.
Staveley's most obvious route to influence now shifts from the Gold stake to Sullivan's. TalkSport correspondent and journalist Henry Winter and The Football Boardroom podcast have reported that she has made contact with him, and going straight for it would let her bypass the pre-emption fight over Gold's shares entirely, since Sullivan would be a willing seller rather than someone else's target. She could also raise her offer for the Gold shares during the pre-emption window, making it more expensive for Krětinský to match and forcing him to weigh whether swallowing that stake is worth the higher price. A third path would be building a coalition with the club's smaller shareholders: Smith's 8% and the remaining 1.1% in other hands, alongside Sullivan, to assemble a meaningful blocking position even without an outright majority. None of those routes get her outright control on their own, but each keeps her in the game. Krětinský's Havrlant move only closes off one path rather than all of them; Staveley's West Ham ambitions are far from finished.
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