Vanessa Gold, daughter of former West Ham chairman David Gold, has agreed to sell her family’s stake in the club to a consortium headed by Amanda Staveley, the former co-owner of Newcastle.

The Gold family trust holds 25.1 per cent of the shares in the Championship club, which was relegated from the Premier League last season.

“I have now reached an agreement to sell my family's shareholding to a consortium of PCP Capital Partners, led by Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, in partnership with Ashland Forest Capital Partners,” Gold said in a statement on Saturday.

“This sale remains subject to [a] pre-emption process, under which existing shareholders have the option to buy the shares instead.

“While the process has not yet concluded, I wanted to be open with our fans about where things stand and my intentions.”

David Sullivan is the club’s largest shareholder with 38.8 per cent. Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky, through 1890s Holdings, owns 27 per cent and would have become the majority shareholder if an agreement to buy a 16 per cent portion of the Gold family’s shares had been completed.

“On the 12th June Daniel Kretinsky and I agreed a sale ... unfortunately, since that time the original deal and other alternatives that we have discussed could not be brought to fruition,” Gold said.

A spokesperson for Kretinsky issued a statement in response, saying: “The agreement we had reached with the Gold family in June provided stability for the club at a crucial time. Today's announcement does the opposite.

“We will always act in the best interests of West Ham United and are reviewing all of our options, including exercising our pre-emption rights in full.”

Staveley and her firm PCP Capital Partners played a significant role in helping Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) complete its takeover of Newcastle in 2021, with the businesswoman and her husband, Ghodoussi, remaining shareholders until 2024.

“The Consortium will bring deep experience and understanding of what it takes to lead a successful football club, and I have every confidence in what they can bring to West Ham,” Gold added.

David Gold served as joint chairman of the Hammers for 13 years alongside business partner David Sullivan. Gold died in 2023.