04 Aug 2026 09:44:23
My opinion for what it’s worth. First WH are after some players that, likely won’t come to WH, and second, some are not up to the standard needed, a hotchpotch if you like.

The whole original idea was to get proven Championship players in, to mix with the remainder of last year's team, what happened I don’t know, but we have gone well off course.

WH had a plan to go after two strikers that topped the list Vipotnik and Haji Wright, both would come for the right bid.

Next was Sorba Thomas, goal scoring winger, makes loads of chances.



At the back, Disasi returns, or take a Chelsea loan, for a quality CB they have plenty, if that fails, buy Harry Soutar.

The creative part was never decided completely but the favourite was Engels who may or may not come.

Originally, it was thought that if we bought in two strikers, let Taty go, he’s still moaning.

It was never cheap, but chances are would have got us promoted. And Sky money pays for all that and more on our return.

All that went out of the window, why?

1.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 10:00:36
The stately bid is what happened, which means Kretensky can't or won't invest, I've seen different conspiracy theories about Sullivan orchestrating the whole thing, so he remains a major shareholder or his shares increase in value, blah blah.



I only really care about what's on the pitch, and this, in the background, is clearly hampering us, and, in all likelihood, will not get sorted in the next 4 weeks before the window shuts, but it needs sorting until we can move forward.

2.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 10:46:32
In reality it shouldn't. At present she owns nothing, and I may not even come to anything.

From the day following the Fernandes sale, the plan should go into operation. Staveley wasn't even heard of at that point.

What is the benefit of any investors, if we stay in this division? None at all, for me this is turning into a mess.

3.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 11:30:22
Im no financial expert this is what I understand and am happy to be corrected but we are in debt the player sales have gone some way to clearing that, not all the debt was cleared and therefore we still would need investment to sign players.

Kretensky said he would invest once he had acquired enough shares to become majority share holder he cannot invest before this point as other board members would have to invest the same amount or their shares would diminish in value so would vote against this particular course as we know they don't want to invest. Now weather goldgot wind of stavelys bid incoming or not and hung on to hers shares I don't kn9w but she has not sold kretensky the shares she said she would via the joint statement that was made

The only one here who can't lose is the midget he either retains majority control or his share value increases as Stavelys bid was way above what kretensky had agreed with gold

Like I say this is how I see it i'm not sure if all is correct and am happy to be corrected by someone who actually knows

4.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 14:13:41
Hi Robbo. I don’t think you are right. Like you, I’m no financial expert and only get my info from a few websites.
But where there is a difference is that Kretinsky has always said he doesn’t want to be the majority shareholder. He may want to be the main shareholder, but if he goes over 50% that makes him the majority shareholder, and when he joined the board there was a clause in it that said he has to buy out David Sullivan's shares at a fixed price agreed back when he joined about 6 years ago, which is a very high figure. This was reported in The Times.
He could have bought the Gold shares, but he wanted the price to drop; he didn’t want to pay what Staveley is prepared to pay. But now he will have to pay that price. If he buys all the shares, that takes him over the 50%. I think he is trying to do a deal with another Czech billionaire who will automatically buy 2% of those shares, which takes him back under the 50%.
I originally didn’t have much to say for DK; he has never helped us when we needed it and could easily have done so.

But when Sullivan took a backward step he took on a much more statesman-like role; he said the right things and got decent prices for our two decent players and managed to persuade Bowen to stay. So I thought he was decent and maybe I was wrong. But I’ve changed my mind again. He is not a football person, he has no interest in the fans, only his bank balance. His big footballing decision was to continue with Nuno, and even those who supported him a lot last season could see there is no way he should have kept his job. Now we are stuck with him. I think Staveley, whilst also her main interest is making money, has a history of taking the fans with her and trying to accommodate their wishes.
I get a lot of my info from Hammers Chat (Geo, not the forum), and there is a good 40 minute podcast or video he (Geo) has just put on the net regarding this exact question. Just go to Hammers Chat and select videos.

5.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 14:40:26
Kretinsky's offer was lower because he only wanted to buy 16% of Gold's 25%, making him majority shareholder. Gold wants to sell all her shares, that's where Staveley comes in. I don't think Sullivan is allowed to increase his shareholding with what is happening with him at the moment, so I think Staveley's offer is legit.

Kretinsky will still have first offer on the shares if he matches or betters Staveley's offer.

6.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 15:36:59
Hi Hammer, no idea if im right or wrong, was just trying to make sense of it out loud really!

I like Geo, he's a good guy. I watched the video, and they are right about one thing: the timing couldn't be worse if we want to get promoted at the 1st attempt. What has motivated that timing, I have no clue.

7.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 15:37:24
Kretinsky has now sold 2% (ish) of his shares to a fellow Czech businessman. This will put him in a position to match Staveley's offer for all of the Gold shares without going above the 50% ownership point, which would have triggered the automatic buyout of Sullivan's shares.

Kretinsky is an extremely canny operator.



It's a shame he can't work with Staveley to invest in the club and secure its future.

Staveley would be interested in buying the stadium and redevelopment. She has the connections and the clout to get a lot done, but she clearly put Kretinsky's nose out of joint when she made the Gold deal.

We'll see, I guess.

8.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 15:31:32
If Kretinskys shares go over 51% he automatically has to make an offer to purchase all of the other shares in the club making him the only investor. It has just been reported that he has just cleverly sold 2% of his shares to an associate leaving him with 25%. He can now purchase all of the Gold shares which would give him 50.1% but not trigger the clause making have to buy all shares outright.

Apologies if any of this info is incorrect but I'm fairly sure its right. I like Stavely but it would be messy having her consortium, DK and the poison dwarf. DK and Stavely majority shareholders would surely be our best outcome ultimately.

9.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 16:53:35
Ska man, you are wrong with most of what you have written. There is a difference between main shareholder and majority shareholder.
To become majority shareholder, he needs over 50% so that he has more shares than everyone else's added together. I believe he currently has 27%, so adding 16 just makes 43%. As Dadder and Markro have said, he has now sold 2% of his shares, meaning he has 25% and can now purchase the Gold shares, which means he could have 50% but won't be the majority shareholder because he needs over 50%.

But, as he has sold his 2% to an outsider, those shares are subject to the same offer to other shareholders as Staveley's were, so could possibly drag out a couple of months, and Sullivan could buy more shares. Most doubt he will, but he is a bloody minded fool. He has been warned to stay away from home matches, but has already indicated he has no such intention. As Robbo said, it is terrible timing, but it shouldn't affect our ability to buy players; it ain't great, but I hope they don't use it as an excuse not to buy players.

10.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 16:56:17
Dabber Maybe stavely will buy Sullivans shares at the price he wants ? then we can rid ourselves of that scumbag

11.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 17:23:09
Hi Hammer, I think it will affect our ability to conduct transfers, as we are still in debt and nobody in their right mind would invest a significant amount whilst there is a question mark over ownership.

12.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 17:40:55
You could be right, Robbo. I would hope most can see it is something that will be resolved one way or the other.

13.) 04 Aug 2026
04 Aug 2026 17:43:05
I think you are bang on the money, Rob. I think it's holding up purchases. Where my rose tinted glasses come in though is that it benefits none of these investors for us to stay in the Championship, therefore you'd hope that sensibility would prevail and somebody would sanction purchases or add to the war chest.