West Ham are confident they will be Olympic Stadium tenants, but Steve McClaren will not be leading them in the Championship.Hammers chairman David Gold has reaffirmed the east London outfit’s commitment to move to the Olympic Stadium despite their relegation from the English Premier league, with the club having factored in a loss of revenue after dropping to England’s second tier.
“Oh no, absolutely not,” Gold told Sky Sports, when asked if their move to the stadium was affected by relegation, which had been confirmed on Sunday.
“We were budgeting last year for relegation, fortunately we managed to survive under (Gianfranco) Zola.”
“There are absolutely no financial issues at all. We’d always budgeted for the possibility of relegation.”
Speculation has begun in earnest over who will replace the sacked Avram Grant at the Hammers, but former England boss McClaren has announced he does not want the hot seat at the relegated club.
“It is very flattering to be linked with a club of West Ham’s size and historic stature, also one that has tremendous fans,” McClaren told Sky Sports.
“However, at this moment in time I do not wish to be considered for the position. But I wish everybody at West Ham all the very best for the future.”
Despite McClaren’s declaration, Gold said the club would aspire to hire a manager at their earliest convenience to begin the work of guiding West Ham back into the top flight.
“The sooner the better, that is important,” he said.
“There is lots of work to do, an enormous amount of work. But at the same time we mustn’t be rushed.”
“This will be a very, very important appointment. We are choosing a manager capable of getting us out of the Championship and continuing once we’ve achieved that.”
“We are looking at everybody. It’s important that we have time for CVs to come in to us. I’m sure that there will be many managers who will see the West Ham job as challenging and exciting.”
“It’s important that we pick the right person.”
