West Ham owners David Gold and David Sullivan could reportedly sell as much as 30-40 percent of the club and still retain control.
The Hammers have been linked with possible takeover bids in recent times, and it may be that they’ll soon be enjoying the benefit of new investment.
However, football finance expert Kieran Maguire has explained to Football Insider that it doesn’t necessarily mean Gold and Sullivan will be giving up control of the club.
See below for his explanation:
“Control of a club from a day to day perspective is determined by having the ability to appoint directors.
“They are ultimately responsible for the strategic and operational decisions at the club.
“If you’ve got 51 per cent of the shares, you can appoint directors who will voice your opinions.
“If David Sullivan goes below 51 per cent, that could seem to be a problem on an individual basis. That’s a massive juncture.
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“But if he has more than 51 per cet with David Gold, that would be fine because they are effectively co-joined. I don’t see that being too much of an issue.
“If you take a look at what happened at Arsenal where Alisher Usmanov owned about 35 per cent of the company, he wanted to be a director or at least appoint one.
“But Stan Kroenke just kept rebuffing him until he threw his toys out of the pram and sold out to Kroenke and that’s why the club has gone private.
“So if they sold part of the club and still had more than 51 per cent, they would be the main beneficiaries from the sale.
“As long as they have control between the pair of them, I don’t see an issue.”