West Ham United’s vice-chairman Karren Brady has accused their London Stadium landlords of financial incompetence and has defended the club’s position in the process.
The club’s senior figure has slammed the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) following remarks from their CEO Lyns Garner, who claimed that usage fee the Hammers have paid do not cover the event day costs.
The club reacted to these claims by saying that Garner had been misleading the public and taxpayers on purpose, but Brady has penned a letter to London Assembly chairman Tony Arbour to defend West Ham’s position on the matter, saying that the claims that the club had not been paying enough rent were not true.
“Firstly, the rent we pay was agreed following a competitive tender. Secondly, as Mr Hendy has now since kindly confirmed in his letter to you, we pay more than £2.5m by way of Usage Fee. Our rent is now £3m a year,” she said in the letter obtained by Sky Sports.
“In our view (with many years of experience of operating a stadium behind us) we are staggered that the operating costs at the London Stadium exceed revenue. In our view, the actual elephant in the room is E20’s failure to manage the operating costs competently.”
OPINION
It remains to be seen when this issue over the alleged unpaid rent to the London Stadium landlords will be over for West Ham. As well as facing problems on the pitch, it seems that they cannot escape them off the pitch either. The problems seem to be stacking up after this latest development, but Brady is right to defend the club in the process. Her claim that the LLDC are financially incompetent may be founded according to the figures in the letter penned to the London Assembly chairman, and she is obviously attempting to get the club out of this mess by making such a statement. If her figures are correct, then the LLDC will be incredibly embarrassed for coming out and saying that West Ham are not paying them enough rent. Soon enough, the club’s problems will start to filter out to the players if this one is not resolved soon.
