West Ham owners appear to have rewarded West Ham Vice Chairman, Karren Brady with a 40% pay increase according to the financial accounts revealed at companies house today.
The highest paid West Ham director employed by parent group WH Holding was paid £907,000 up from £646,000 in 2015.
Her £261,000 increase came in the last season at the Boleyn Ground as the Hammers prepared to move the London Stadium.
However, it is unclear at this stage whether any element of the bonus she was awarded for overseeing the old Olympic Stadium is included in the “rise.”
In 2011 after the Sullivan and Gold takeover, the highest West Ham paid director earned £256,000 and that increased to £427,000 in 2012.
In 2013 Karren Brady earned £1.63m which included a £1m bonus for winning the London Stadium tenancy deal although the bonus payments are thought to have been staggered over five years. In 2014 her salary returned to £636,000 with a modest £10,000 rise in 2015 to £646,000.
If her money has been increased to £907,000 yearly that pales into insignificance given those earned by her London Premier League rivals. Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy and Arsenal’s CEO Ivan Gazidis for example both paid themselves £2.6m per year in 2016.
And with the average Premier League footballer earnings £44,000 per week (or £2.2m per year and average squad players earn well over £1m) Brady’s possible wage level would not be overly high anyway at just under £1m per year.
However, ClaretandHugh is checking to ensure that the bare Company House figures reflect the true position or whether any remaining bonus payments are included in the figure for the past year.