West Ham should soon be able to provide some clarity on the ownership shares situation.

It has been a period of significant uncertainty regarding the future of the club, with Amanda Staveley’s clear intentions to buy into West Ham complicating a situation where it was originally was that Daniel Kretinsky and Vanessa Gold were ready to go into a partnership to lead the club.

The sale of the Gold family shares and it’s direction of sale should start to provide a steer for fans as to what direction the club is heading in terms of ownership structure.

Below is an extract of information provided which sets out a likely position at this current stage:

We are deadline for round one of pre-emption rights for existing shareholders to exercise their right to purchase a proportion of the Gold family shares.

Daniel Kretinsky is currently classed as a person with significant control of West Ham, as he owns 27% of WH Holding Limited.

Should he reduce his shareholding below 25.01%, he is no longer classed as a person with significant control,

He reportedly plans to do just that by selling a small portion of his stake to his business friend Jakub Havrlant to take his shareholding under 25%.

In the first round, he can buy a further 9% of West Ham, taking him to 36% of the shares and voting.

This transaction is declarable publicly to Companies House within 14 days.

He can then sell 2.2% to Jakub Havrlant, assuming no other existing shareholder decides to take those shares using the same pre-emption rights process.

Assuming he was the only shareholder to acquire 9% in round one, and he sells 2.2% to another third party, this allows him to purchase the remaining 16.1% from the Gold family trust in round 2.

He would end up with 49.9% of the West Ham shares at the end of both rounds and, importantly, would not trigger a clause to force him to buy David Sullivan’s shares at a significant premium.

This is the most likely scenario according to those close to the share process.