The mystery of what happened to the remaining West Ham John Lyall gates has finally been resolved. The three remaining gates which were put up for auction last year through Hilco with a live auction and webcast at the Boleyn Ground in June was purchased by former West Ham chairman Terry Brown.
Three of the famous gates were relocated to 
the new club shop outside the London Stadium but the club claimed there was no room for the remaining three gates.
Bids were invited for the pair of John Lyall gates started at £5,000 with the additional gate accepting bids starting at £2,500. We have been told by the auction house that the gates failed to make their reserve prices but a private bid by Brown was accepted by the club which was in excess of the reserve price in the action.
The former holiday park owner, Terry Brown joined the West Ham board in November 1990 and was then elected chairman from May 1992 by the Cearns family after their trouble with the infamous bond scheme which was launched in 1991.
Brown purchased thirty per cent of West Ham shares in 1992 from David Sullivan and the Gold Brothers for around £2.75m. The two David’s had bought the shares from Jack Petchey a year earlier but decided to sell as it was clear that a takeover at that point was unwelcome.
Brown later commenced legal action against three West Ham supporters who formed a pressure group called Whistle in 2004 who accused him of financial mismanagement. Two of them made public apologies later in 2004.
Brown made over £33m from the sale of his 7 million plus shares in West Ham to the Icelandic consortium in 2006 after 15 years in charge as chairman which included the fated Bond scheme. In his final full season as chairman he received over £1m comprising his salary, bonus, benefits in kind and pension payments.
The former West Ham chairman later launched a legal battle for damages of more 
than £5 million in 2008 claiming he was sacked without notice and sought damages for the loss of his £492,000 yearly salary and chauffeur. He also sought recompense for his loss of pension contributions, as well as the use of eight seats in the directors’ box and car parking for the rest of his life. West Ham later settled out of court with Brown and he is instated as honorary life president.
In August 2010, it was announced that Brown had acquired a small amount of shares (3.8%) from West Ham United’s holding company in conjunction with John Harris CBE and his son Daniel. Combined, their initial investment was £4,000,000.
Browns got them.Oh my god thats gunna set off the drama queens in the morning pmsl
Lmao take this thread down otherwise today will be very wet!!!
Mind to be honest I can’t stand the man. Sullivan and Gold have done more for our club in 5 years than he did in 15 years. The surprise for me is that Sullivan and Gold get stick after succeeding Brown and the icelandics. Talking about saviours.
Horrendous for anyone who lived through the Brown eras – a man who constantly rewarded himself for failure. Did well for himself when selling on the club just after signing Tevez! Allowed the Ferdinand income to be entirely squandered. Oversaw the sale of our best players. Appointed Roeder. ………
Say no more Jonny I’m reaching for the razor blades as I type
If no one else was bidding for them at least they ended up with someone with a strong WH connection, even if he was rightly criticised as chairman.
Whatever people might think of Brown, it is a West Ham fan who still watches the Hammers week in week out. Hopefully it will install them somewhere they can be viewed by others
Up his Ar’se would be my vote Sean but I guess that would be restricted viewing 😂😂
I won’t make out I like him I’m sorry. I’m with Jonny he presided over a poor 15 years for me that my kids grew up in that seriously tested their loyalty to not only West Ham but their dad.
I thoroughly enjoyed some of the seasons when he was chairmen.Yes some awful ones but some good ones as well.You havnt been drinking at the same fountain of gloom as the wet ones have you John lmao
I was just reading the article on there.The best starting eleven.One idiots contribution..”6 wingers no rb and no goalkeepers sadly”…
Can you get more cheerful than that!?!?!
Slow news day obviously
Sean give us an article on training facilities. What’s at Rush Green? 5 pitches? 10 pitches? Indoor facilities? Acres? Any scope for expansion? Do we still own Chadwell Heath? Will that be sold? How does ours compare with Chelsea and Spuds, are we still way behind? I heard One or the other had 120 acres? Are we in the same league? If it’s a quiet news day I’d love to know more as I know nothing at alll. Is there a google map? I ask because they said Slaven drove a young supporter back to the training facility. It sounds big lol.
https://www.westhamtillidie.com/posts/2013/09/29/what-is-the-future-of-rush-green
http://www.claretandhugh.info/rush-green-to-receive-further-investment/
http://www.claretandhugh.info/rush-green-planning-permission-approved/
http://www.claretandhugh.info/rush-green-will-have-state-of-the-art-facilities/
The site is 29 acres and contains six outdoor pitches some of which are Desso Grassmaster. the main building was remodelled in the summer with separate offices for the manager and first team coaches, an analysis room with the latest technology, a sports science room, a first team restaurant and separate youth team restaurant served by an enlarged modern kitchen. There are separate dressing rooms for the first team with their own showers. Elite staff and general staff have their own dressing rooms as well as visiting away teams. These are backed up by a fully functioning laundry plus separate boot and kit rooms.
There is a large gym, medical room, a large treatment area and a Hydotherapy pool.
Little room for expansion, we are some way behind some others including Chelsea and Spurs. We are keeping Chadwell Heath and have no plans to sell it at this time.
Google earth photo of Rush Green https://s9.postimg.org/700h2jda7/rushgreen.png
John, I’m going over there tomorrow for the first time since I played there as a kid and will be doing a video. Keep an eye on the C&H newsfeed mate and I’ll upload it Weds evening or Thurs morning.
Nice one thanks Sean. Look forward to that Gonzo. Cheers mate.
Thanks for resolving the mystery Sean, bearing in mind it is a slow news week, the second part of that big interview with Noble was put out by graham hunter http://grahamhunter.tv/mark-noble-back-garden-boleyn-ground/ you might want to post it in its own thread 🙂
As previous posts and the article aluded to, Terence Brown oversaw the sale of possibly the greatest crop of young talent the club will ever see, implemented the disgraceful Bond Scheme and landed the club with Tevez, Mascherano and The Icelandic Bsicuit Men, so basically he was guilty of mortgaging the club’s future, squandering the money, criminal mismanagement and alienating the fans. I think it would be fair to say that he put WHUFC back a generation. So he is a fan, is he? With friends like that, we’d have been better of with enemies. Difficult to see how much more damage he could have caused. I remember the bitter ‘Brown Out’ days as though it was yesterday, and teh supporters trust. Good grief. One thing that stuck with me from The Supporters Trust when we discussed Terence Brown and the sale of Rio, in particular was that he landed that one firmly on H’s dorestep. From what I was told, the exact words when he went to H to tell him, out of coutesey that there had been an offer for Rio, fully expecting him to go crazy, having previously said ‘Over my dead body’ etc etc was ‘An offer like that, Terry, how can you refuse?’ So, Terry Brown, maybe not exclusivley to blame for everything directly, but certainly complicit in absolutely everything, by his weakness. Sad to hear he has Gentleman John Lyall’s gates… but we allowed that to happen. If it was up to me Terence Brown would not be welcome at West Ham… ever.
I have no time for living in the past.Its all done & gone.Now is Slav Time,bring on Watford 😁