Carpet to be laid for Leicester City visit

The new mostly Claret pitch surround will be installed in time for the West Ham v Leicester City game on 20th April Claret and Hugh has learnt.

In February West Ham Vice-Chairman Karren Brady said the Claret Pitch Surround had been ordered in January and will be installed later in the season with a firm date to be confirmed and will be composed of 4G artificial turf.

West Ham is understood to have paid in excess of £300,000 towards the new surround although the responsibility for installation, maintenance, removal and storage over the summer is that of stadium owners E20 Stadium.

In August last year, West Ham revealed they won an expert determination which ruled the existing pitch surround was not fit for purpose.

At that time the club said “E20 will be replacing the green pitch surround at their cost with a suitable material that is a contrasting colour to the pitch. Naturally, the track cover now needs to blend in with the stadium which contractually must always look and feel like the home ground of West Ham United. The Club is in discussions with E20 Stadium LLP in this regard. The expert determination directed the parties to find a mutually acceptable solution which we hope will be settled before long”