What David Sullivan has spent the £190m Daniel Kretinsky paid for West Ham stake on

Daniel Kretinsky bought a 27 per cent stake in West Ham in 2021 and it was widely presumed that he would later take full control of the club.

However, despite having the option to do so via a put-and-call agreement in the original terms of his deal, Kretinsky has elected not to increase his stake.

The Czech billionaire is currently wrapped up in his takeover of the Royal Mail, which will be finalised after regulatory clearance – although that is far from a formality.

Meanwhile, David Sullivan – who remains the Hammers’ largest individual shareholder – is attempting to find a buyer for chunk of the shares owned by Vanessa Gold, daughter of the late David Gold.

The club’s vice-chair, Karren Brady, has been to the Middle East to court investment in West Ham but to no avail.

Presumably, Brady will have used the £190m that Kretinsky paid for his stake in the club as the benchmark in negotiations with prospective West Ham buyers.

But given that the club has been more or less profitable in recent seasons – and there is therefore no need for the owners to bankroll a deficit – what ever happened to that money?

• READ MORE: What West Ham insiders are now saying about Mohammed Kudus after alleged Julen Lopetegui clash

Jack Sullivan reveals where £190m West Ham cash has gone

Jack Sullivan, son of David and a director at the London Stadium recently appeared on Dodge Woodhall’s Eventful Lives podcast.

Asked whether the £190m Kretinsky had put into the club would help sign more players than they had been able to previously, he answered: “Potentially, but not really.

“A lot of that [money] went towards the debt during Covid so the club could be sustainable and run as it should.

“To be honest with you, with FFP, you can’t… It’s not like the old days where you can do what Roman Abramovich did or the Man City owners and say ‘we’re going to buy this player and buy this player.’

“Football doesn’t allow it, and I personally think rightly so. You have seen clubs in the lower leagues – Bury have gone out business, QPR had a lot of financial problems.

“We need to make sure we are custodians of the football club and we leave it in a better way than when we started, whenever that might be.

“At the same time, we want to make sure we don’t spend loads of money and when we do leave it is an uncontrollable mess because we have got players on big long contracts.

“When you look at the family’s record – or, to be honest, dad’s record – he bought Birmingham when they were in League One.

“The season he left, they finished 8th in the Premier League. At West Ham, I hope we’re starting to see that with where we have been on these European adventures.”

So, it appears that the bulk of the money Kretinsky funnelled into the club in 2021 has gone to servicing debt related to Covid, as well as general operational costs to make West Ham sustainable.

West Ham’s PSR position

Under the Premier League’s current PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules) system, West Ham are allowed to lose £105m over a rolling three-year period.

The club have been one of the better teams when it comes to generating profits in recent years, thanks in large part to their matchday income and revenue from European football.

They lost £17m in 2022-23, the last financial year on record, but made a £10m profit the previous year.

They are expected to post another solid set of results when they release their accounts for 2023-24, which will be in the first quarter of 2025.