There’s been a tug-of-war behind the scenes over control of West Ham United, and now that the club’s fate appears to be settled, the loser has spoken up.

West Ham United’s return to the Championship has been rocky at first, but things are beginning to look up.

Three victories in which they scored ten goals have propelled them up to second place in the table, trailing only early pacesetters West Bromwich Albion, with average attendances of 60,000 demonstrating that the fans have not lost faith in the club since their relegation from the Premier League at the end of 2025-26.

But the campaign to return West Ham to the Premier League was not the only one that began in the summer.

Behind the scenes at The London Stadium, a battle for ownership of the club has erupted between Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and Amanda Staveley, a high-profile advisor to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund when it finalised its takeover of Newcastle United in 2021. Kretinsky won that struggle by exercising his pre-emption rights to gain a controlling stake in West Ham, and Staveley has now spoken out on the subject.

Staveley talks up about the West Ham takeover failure.

On Friday morning, journalist Alan Nixon reported on his Patreon page that Staveley had lost the struggle to gain control of West Ham United.

In the statement, she states, “We are obviously disappointed not to have been successful in our bid to acquire the 25% shareholding in West Ham United.”

She also admits that the group she led’s ultimate goal was to acquire a controlling share in the club: “For transparency, our original offer was for both David Sullivan’s 38.8% stake and Vanessa Gold’s 25.5% stake.”

Staveley states that her goal was to “rejuvenate the club,” and that she and her partners “retain the greatest respect for the West Ham community.” However, she concludes by indicating that their interest in the club hasn’t waned, saying, “We will continue to follow this process closely,” and that “our ambitions for the club continue.”

Staveley’s consortium could essentially only purchase into West Ham if Daniel Kretinsky did not want the shares that were available.

West Ham United had a number of issues at the end of the 2025-26 season. Relegation is a significant financial burden for any long-standing Premier League club, and it was exacerbated by claims made against David Sullivan in an episode of the BBC documentary series Panorama.

Sullivan resigned his positions of influence within the club but remained his shareholding; also, the stock owned by the family of David Gold, who died at the beginning of 2023 after a brief illness, made another tranche of shares in the club accessible through his daughter.

Amanda Staveley’s group were outsiders in the deal, and there was one issue that they couldn’t resolve in terms of acquiring ownership. Daniel Kretinsky, a Czech billionaire, purchased a 27% stake in West Ham in November 2021, and as an existing stakeholder, he always had first priority on purchasing any shares that were available. While this was a tug-of-war, it was always the fact that Staveley’s group could only get a footing at the club if Kretinsky refused to buy them, which he obviously did.

It’s unlikely that English teams have seen the end of her consortium. She had previously been linked with a move to Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur, but the club denied the reports. However, shareholdings in football clubs become available on a fairly regular basis, and her name is likely to be associated with additional clubs in the future. However, it appears unlikely that West Ham United will be among these clubs.