West Ham leapfrog Aston Villa and Man City as Premier League’s third richest

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West Ham are among the biggest spenders in the Premier League over the last two years and now there are only two clubs wealthier.

There has perhaps never been a greater focus on the owners of Premier League clubs than in today’s game.

Aston Villa have made themselves a Champions League club with heavy investment in recent years.

Manchester City are dominating English football with their resources.

West Ham have been mixing it with Europe’s top 20 clubs when it comes to income since their move to the London Stadium.

Coupled with biggest investment from West Ham’s owners, it has coincided with greater success on the pitch.

But fan generated revenue doesn’t even touch the sides for what is required to buy players and show ambition in the modern game.

Ownership of Premier League clubs more often than not directly correlates with where clubs end up in the standings be it Man City, Aston Villa or West Ham.

Rich owners are necessary to fund transfers and remain competitive.

In fact the ownership has probably never been so important. West Ham, Man City and Aston Villa fans will be no different to any other in the country, they want owners willing to dip into their deep pockets to fund transfers.

West Ham leapfrog Villa and Man City as third richest

The likes of Newcastle and Manchester City are now essentially owned by states, while there’s an increasing number of billionaires in charge of clubs like Aston Villa and West Ham.

Without rich owners, remaining competitive in the best league in the world is a tough ask.

But which teams have the richest owners?

Well there has been an astonishing development which may shock fans across the top flight.

Because West Ham have leapfrogged Aston Villa and Man City as Premier League’s third richest.

Heading into the new season Newcastle were by far and away the richest with their owners boasting a net worth of £478 billion.

No other club on the planet even comes close to that kind of eye-watering figure.

Heading into the new season Aston Villa were third with Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris having a net worth of £13.8bn.

Man City were fourth with the net worth of Abu Dhabi United Group and Silver Lake at £12.9bn.

West Ham were down in eighth with a net worth just under £8bn.

But that has all changed.

When it comes to football club ownership Daniel Kretinsky is a bit of a throwback at West Ham.

Kretinsky’s billions rocket Hammers up Prem rich list

While more and more club owners have very public profiles and converse regularly with fans and the media, Kretinsky stays in the shadows.

Kretinsky, who bought 27 per cent of West Ham just under three years ago in November 2021.

When Kretinsky bought his share to become West Ham’s second biggest stakeholder, it boosted club coffers by £150m.

It is no surprise West Ham have been the fifth biggest spenders in the Premier League since then.

What fans probably didn’t expect is that Kretinsky’s involvement has now made them the third richest in the entire top flight.

The Czech billionaire is, by some distance, the richest man at West Ham. And he is now among the richest owners in the Premier League too in terms of net worth.

Kretinsky jumped a massive 14 places on the this year’s Sunday Times Rich List as his wealth continued to grow.

The Sparta Prague owner went from 47th to 33rd with a net worth of £6bn. That was up £2bn on last year.

Only Newcastle and Man United now ‘richer’ than Hammers

But his net worth has doubled since – pushing West Ham up the table above Man City and Aston Villa into third place with a net worth over £14bn.

Kretinsky’s soaring net worth has recently officially made him the richest man in the Czech Republic and one of the wealthiest in all of Europe.

The Hammers co-owner has secured top spot in this year’s Euro business magazine ranking of the richest Czechs, with a net worth of CZK 390 billion – just under £13 billion.

The West Ham man owns the EPH conglomerate and the energy-focused EP Corporate Group. It is reported Kretinsky has become richer by almost CZK 173 billion (£5.75bn) in the last 12 months alone.

Coupled with David Sullivan’s net worth of £1.2bn – plus the accumulative wealth of West Ham’s other stakeholders including the Gold family and Albert ‘Tripp’ Smith – it takes the Hammers over the £14bn mark – above champions Man City and Champions League Villa.

The only clubs with richer owners than West Ham are now Newcastle and Man United who, since Sir Jim Ratcliffe became co-owner alongside the Glazers, are at £19.2bn.

The main source of income for West Ham’s money man Kretinsky is energy, telecoms, media and football. The ‘Czech Sphinx’ has recently taken over Royal Mail and part owns J Sainsbury too among a plethora of other investments.

After a £155m spend in the summer, West Ham’s lofty place in these standings is not being reflected on the pitch just yet.

But for West Ham the good news is Kretinsky said his heart is fully with West Ham in a rare TV interview back in June.

So much so he wants to increase his stake in the club if the opportunity arises.

With at least 10 per cent of the Gold family stake still up for sale at West Ham, perhaps a larger share of the club could be Kretinsky’s next big investment?

West Ham fans will certainly be hoping that might be the case given the extraordinary growth in his wealth.