West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady made the headlines this week when she admitted the club could look to buy the London Stadium outright.
Brady appeared before the London Assembly’s Budget and Performance Committee to discuss a host of issues that have dogged West Ham‘s move to the London Stadium.
A report established the former Olympic Stadium was losing around £20m a year while the Hammers have had various disagreements with their landlords ranging from capacity, the colour and material of the pitch surround and stewarding.
During the meeting Brady, who is unpopular with some of West Ham’s fanbase, suggested the club would look to put an end to the tumultuous relationship between the Hammers and their landlords by purchasing the London Stadium outright (Sky Sports).
The story made national headlines given the big public interest in the home of the London 2012 Games.
But it was not the first time West Ham’s hierarchy have discussed the possibility publicly after previous insights from co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold.
When asked ‘Is your dad looking into the possibility of buying the London Stadium outright in the future?’ Sullivan told Sport Bible: “I cannot comment on that, but it is certainly a possibility.”
Earlier this year Sullivan’s fellow owner Gold added further weight to that theory that is West Ham’s long-term plan after he endorsed a tweet suggesting that could well be a solution in the future to his near 200,000 following.
One Hammers fans wrote on Twitter: “The (stadium) situation is not beyond redemption. The stadium ownership is sure to come up again soon. At which point we could find ourselves sole owners with the opportunity to address all these issues.”
The Hammers‘ move to Stratford from their beloved Upton Park was beset by problems from the start.
From in-fighting among the club’s fans over persistent standing to segregation issues, violent scenes between home and away supporters and a general dissatisfaction with the atmosphere and feel of a ground many refer to as ‘soulless’, it left a bitter taste in what was supposed to be a memorable and historic campaign.
Ahead of the stadium move, Hammers fans were promised a genuine retractable seating solution in communications from the club.
In reality they have been left with a temporary lower tier built on a complex scaffolding which will reportedly take weeks to deconstruct and reconstruct each season at a cost of £8 million – some £7.7m more than the original estimate.
The distance from the stands to the pitch is a major bone of contention for many fans with the bowl shape of the venue the biggest problem as the stadium was not built with football in mind.
Supporters live in hope the club can one day own the ground outright and make the necessary changes to turn it into a stadium fit for football.
So fans will be enthused Brady has put that back on the agenda as a realistic possibility.
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