There is something afoot at West Ham United regarding a potential takeover of the club. Of that, I am 100% sure. What exactly is happening, I don’t know.

But after adding everything from different sources up, here’s what I believe might be happening:

(It’s all guess work)

In 2013, GSB signed an agreement whereby if they sell West Ham United for more than £200m before March 2023, they would need to pay a share premium to the London Stadium public owners.

I believe that it was always the plan of GSB to acquire the London Stadium (as DS confirmed upon purchasing the club), and selling the club on for a hefty profit. The 2013 agreement had DS certain he would hold on until 2023 before selling up as to not have to pay the premium.

In September 2017, 10% of shares in West Ham United were sold to Albert J Tripp Smith, who loaned the club £9.5m interest-free, only payable when the club changes ownership.

The loan was a private investment. Being a financial expert as Tripp Smith is, why would he essentially gamble £9.5m of his own money on the club changing ownership, unless of course he knew for a fact that this would happen?

Who better to know that the club would change ownership than the orchestrating Tripp Smith, the man who Ex has previously said is looking for investors to form a consortium to purchase the club from GSB.

Who this consortium may involve isn’t clear. But what is clear is that Tripp Smith is a major player in the financial game. He is the co-founder of GSO Capital Partners, which he sold to the Blackstone Group for $1 billion.

Fast forward to March 2018, and Burnley beat West Ham 0-3 at the London Stadium, leading to huge fan protests against GSB. This would prove to be the catalyst for all of this in my opinion.

The idea is that Tripp Smith sensed an opportunity to strike when he heard of the fans’ unrest and the pressure that the board were under.

In April 2018, an internal audit was carried out at West Ham United. According to @Lambo1966, a company must hold an audit if a shareholder who holds 10% or more of the shares requests it.

It is extremely likely that Tripp Smith himself requested these audits take place in order to share the inner workings of the club with potential third-party buyers. As confirmed by Ex, doing this can speed up the process of a sale.

In June 2018, Tripp Smith left the Blackstone Group to pursue “other opportunities”, including one called “Iron Park”.

The Pellegrini/Husillos project was put into place in 2018, likely as a result of the audit of the scouting system.

It’s important to note at this point that the London Stadium - owned by LLDC - is operating at a huge loss per year. This is something that will not be able to continue for much longer. The best option is for the stadium to be handed over to West Ham United.

Fast forward to 2020, and Ex has said that something significant will happen in September. Could it be that this is indeed West Ham United taking control of the London Stadium?

As I said earlier, GSB planned all along to sell the club after acquiring the London Stadium. I believe they caught wind of the LLDC probably handing the stadium over a few months ago. This, for me, is why we are seeing a lack of investment in the team currently.

If they planned on selling the club once they acquired the London Stadium, why would they invest into something that they are looking to sell very soon?

All the while, Tripp Smith has been in contact with his powerful partners in the USA to form a consortium, aiming to broker a deal that sees GSB sell their shares in West Ham United.

I believe that West Ham United will acquire the London Stadium, and then be able to sell for a figure much closer to GSB’s seemingly extravagant £800m price tag.

The potential buyer would acquire both West Ham United and the London Stadium.

West Ham United owning the London Stadium and increasing the value of the club, would make the 2013 agreement pointless, thus meaning that GSB wouldn’t mind selling before 2023.

In summary, I believe West Ham will acquire the London Stadium, and this will hasten GSB’s sale of the club, as it’ll allow them to command a higher fee for their shares. In the background, Tripp Smith has been brokering this deal, possibly since 2017.

I’m not an expert in these fields. I am merely trying to piece things together to form an opinion. So before you fire abuse at me and tell me how wrong I am, I’m only guessing

I may be completely wide of the mark, but I do now for the first time believe that we are about to see the end of the GSB era.

Keep going.

I think we’re nearly there.

#GSBOUT