West Ham’s stadium dilemma

Karren Brady comes into the category of people I respect but don’t like.   She is no shrinking violet when it comes to media interviews and there was yet another big profile in the Sunday Times Business News yesterday.  It didn’t really say anything new: meteroric rise; tough cookie; not short of a bob or two; children important to her; not really into football.

Karren Brady comes into the category of people I respect but don’t like.   She is no shrinking violet when it comes to media interviews and there was yet another big profile in the Sunday Times Business News yesterday.  It didn’t really say anything new: meteroric rise; tough cookie; not short of a bob or two; children important to her; not really into football.

However, what was interesting from a football perspective was what she had to say about the Olympic Stadium.    Asked how she would feel if West Ham lose to Blackpool on Saturday she said: ‘It will be frustrating but I won’t walk away.   What frustrates me more is the Olympic stadium.’  It looks as if the decision is going to be delayed again.

It is now 15 months since West Ham were selected in a previous bidding process until it collapsed in legal acrimony in October.   The process cost the club about £300,000 in legal fees after a series of legal challenges, including one involving Spurs and Leyton Orient (who do have a real grievance).

Now re-elected London Mayor Boris Johnson has said that a decision on its future use is unlikely to be made until after the Olympic Games.  He said, ‘There is a very lively competition going on.  But there are things that we have got to work out.’

Other potential tenants include the University of East London and Essex County Cricket Club, and concert promoter Live Nations.   UK Athletics already has a 99-year lease to run events on 21 days over the summer but that won’t bring in much money.

It is difficult to see there being a better tenant than West Ham, particularly if they are able to extend the seats over the athletic track  for their games as they plan.  Boris really needs to get a grip on this issue given that responsibility for the Olympic Park legacy has shifted from the government to him.

i heard Boris speak at a reception at 10 Downing Street the other month.  It was a speech full of great jokes delivered with impeccable timing but no substance unless you count the barbs at Dave Cameron (whose own speech he interrupted in a way that brought the room down).

We are told by Boris’s many friends that he is trying to be more serious as he gears up to eventually become prime minister, an ambition which is backed by many in the Conservative Party and the media.   He can show us his ability to deliver by getting on with settling the stadium tenancy.

Part of the delay may be to do with the replacement of Lady Margaret Ford as chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation by Daniel Moylan, deputy chairman of Transport for London and a former Conservative councillor in Kensington and Chelsea.

It has also been hinted that the eventual decision will be influenced by whether West Ham win promotion to the Premier League.