10 Comments

Hammers blank the big LS option

Queen Elizabeth Park 2017

The ownership of the London Stadium is unlikely to ever change hands while West Ham’s current ‘deal of the century’ remains in place.

A senior source close to the club told ClaretandHugh this weekend: “Our deal is so good its better than owning the freehold.”

Some West Ham Supporters had believed that the stadium’s public owners could soon write off their taxpayers’ investment of £750m and look to sell the venue on london-stadium-fansthe cheap.

Alternatively there was the hope that they would give away the former Olympic Stadium after suffering massive running losses  but the truth is there is little motivation from West Ham’s point of view to consider that as it stands.

The Stadium is currently undergoing an investigation by Moore Stephens on behalf of the London Mayor Sadiq Kahn and that process is rumoured to have paralysed decision-making within certain departments responsible for the stadium including the application to increase the football capacity to 60,000.

Eaststand2ClaretandHugh understands that the club and stadium owners mostly communicate by solicitors letters, a fact underlined by the £3.3m in legal fees spent by E20 and LLDC relating to the stadium project so far.

Our senior source further speculated: “I think Newham council will end up buying it.”

Newham Council borrowed £40m to fund Newham Legacy Investments (NLI) which is part of E20 Stadium LLP which owns the London Stadium.

Last month a Freedom of Information admitted that no loan payments which are supposed to include 6% interest have been returned to the council to date relating to that loan.

The FOI response said: “The Council has not yet received loan repayments from Newham Legacy Investments (NLI). The loan was made to the NLI by the Council on the basis that it would be repaid over a 40 year period.”   

 

 

 

 

 

About Sean Whetstone

I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball, I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh. Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons! Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter

10 comments on “Hammers blank the big LS option

  1. Real shame. Opportunity missed to make the place a real whufc home. Agree its a great deal but so much is taken from the fans.
    Little things like name and colours taken down each season. Delays in seat returned. Statue not in place. Future acknowledgments of whu players. I would love to have a true HOME thats ours. But it will NEVER happen.

  2. The club are missing the point here. If we were given the opportunity and the price was right, to carry on with the current situation would be wrong.

    This would be the chance to make it OUR HOME. I was getting used to the stadium and starting to feel like ours then the athletics lot come in and remove everything that is West Ham about it.

    Anyone who has been on a stadium tour will know how long that would take to do and the fact that we can’t play at home for the first three weeks is not good. Is this going to happen every season? Who cares about the Anniversary Games anyway? The Olympics was 5 years ago. Move on!

    I know it does not make financial sense to buy it but it makes sense for the sake of the fan, our identity as a football club.

    • Just this year and probably 2022 I guess.

      After 2022 I expect things to change dramatically with regard to ownership of the stadium.

  3. The above posts by , Boogabenson & cas_blue are just a few of the reasons why I can’t understand Fans and/or supporters of other clubs complaining about our ” so called deal of the century ” . It in no way feels like a deal . But , it is what we’ve got and we better start getting used to it pdq . Unless a megga rich multi billionaire buys the Davids out and buys the LS outright , we still have another ninety eight years of this deal to run . Griping for ninety eight years doesn’t sound very attractive .

  4. I think you are missing the point big style here guys. I’d hate to have you in charge of Brexit lol. For a start until Sullivan publicly says West Ham will never own the OS then don’t believe it. Secondly Sullivan and his board knows that any bargaining figure starts at ZERO. Maybe less because it’s currently losing money. If it continues to lose between £2M and £10M pa then frankly the Goverment will probably have to consider paying West Ham to take it off their hands and still the tax payer will have a good deal!!!

    Now the thing to consider is can West Ham occupy the place for less than they pay now? That’s what I’d like C&H to do a study on? ie cost now (rent, rates, other costs) vrs cost if we owned it (no rent, full rates, police, security, corner flags etc but we do get catering and events etc) Sean how about it? Rough figures?

    If the now figure is far more attractive than the ownership option then I guess we never will but like all things there will be figure that gets the deal done. However Sullivan is in the driving seat with the Baroness in the passenger seat lmao 😂😂😂

  5. Im a very bad person.

    Thought i saw the baroness over the bonnet!

    I will stop and enjoy the sun.

    Think she was waxing it.

    Wax on wax off
    More wax off please

    • Lmao Booga you’ve had too (not to or 2) much sun already fella! Get in the shade or you’ll be seeing Sullivan over the car bonnet. Oh man!!

      Right I’m off for Daddy’s Day lunch. A timely reminder that they’re all still in my will. For now. 😂😂

  6. A pointless arguement, until we are given a chance to buy it how can anybody decide what they might do in years to come??

  7. Do you honestly think that if there was an option to buy or if the board had been given any hint of a deal, that G/S & B would let anyone know ! its in our own interest to keep the stadium on cheap rent until we have them all by the short hairs and completely fkuc them all over, and this IS in the best interest of the club and all its fans. Hearn/Levy and his undercover spies who stopped us buying in the first place will have a coronary. watch this space and keep up the good work chairmen .

  8. I think its a totally fluid situation where you can never say never.There are many factors that can change the situation over the next few years so to deciede one way or the other that something will or wont change as a fan is a pointless in my view.

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