Karren Brady has said that moving West Ham to the London Stadium was a key aspect of the ownerships' bid to change the brand of the club.
The migration across East London from the Boleyn Ground has not been an unqualified success, however, with poor results and incidents of fan violence marring the Hammers big move to Stratford.
Co-owner David Sullivan last week claimed that reports of violence had been “sensationalised” by those who want to see the stadium move fail.
Speaking at the Leaders in Sport Conference at Stamford Bridge today, vice-chairman Brady offered a reminder of how far West Ham had come since Sullivan and David Gold bought a club “with £100million of debt” in 2010.
Five reasons why West Ham have struggled this season
Five reasons why West Ham have struggled this season
1/6 What's gone wrong
Out of the Europa League and in the top flight relegation zone. It was not the start to life at the London Stadium West Ham fans envisaged.
But what is going wrong? Andy Sims examines five key reasons.
Ian Walton/Getty Images
2/6 New stadium
There is a lot of misty-eyed nonsense surrounding West Ham's move from Upton Park to the vast former Olympic Stadium and the so-called lack of atmosphere. In fact, the Boleyn Ground could resemble a library at times, just like any other ground in the country. And, believe it or not, they did lose games there as well. That said, many teams have taken time to adjust to their new surroundings after switching grounds and West Ham are certainly making heavy weather of things.
Getty Images
3/6 New signings
West Ham brought in 11 new players over the summer and yet only one of them, Andre Ayew, could be considered a starter in Slaven Bilic's first-choice line-up - and he was injured half an hour into his debut. Of the rest, Ashley Fletcher has shown potential but Simone Zaza is struggling to make an impact up front while Gokhan Tore, Sofiane Feghouli and Arthur Masuaku frankly look out of their depth. Their exit from the Europa League has left the Hammers with a bloated squad full of average players.
West Ham United via Getty Images
4/6 Injuries
New stadium, same old story. Yet while Andy Carroll being injured comes as little surprise, the loss of Ayew and Aaron Cresswell - as well as Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini earlier in the season - has taken its toll. Diafra Sakho's move to West Brom fell through due to concerns over his fitness so he remains at the club, but he too is still injured.
Getty Images
5/6 Defending
The Hammers have conceded 14 goals in their last four Premier League matches and at times have looked a shambles at the back. Time seems to be catching up with James Collins while Winston Reid and Angelo Ogbonna have become error-prone and Bilic does not seem to trust talented teenager Reece Oxford. All of which makes the sale of James Tomkins to rivals Crystal Palace utterly baffling. Thankfully the experiment of playing Michail Antonio at right-back seems to be over, but on the other flank Masuaku looks like a disaster waiting to happen.
West Ham United via Getty Images
6/6 Maybe they're not actually that good
Yes, West Ham were challenging for a top-four finish last term, but Leicester won the league, remember? At the end of last season the Hammers lost 4-1 at home to Swansea and slumped 2-1 at Stoke on the final day to drop to seventh. The memorable win over Manchester United in the last game at Upton Park may just have papered over the cracks appearing in a team already on the slide. Payet took the Premier League by storm last season but even he can't win every game on his own. Perhaps teams are finding out that if you keep him quiet, there is not too much else to worry about.
PA
1/6 What's gone wrong
Out of the Europa League and in the top flight relegation zone. It was not the start to life at the London Stadium West Ham fans envisaged.
But what is going wrong? Andy Sims examines five key reasons.
Ian Walton/Getty Images
2/6 New stadium
There is a lot of misty-eyed nonsense surrounding West Ham's move from Upton Park to the vast former Olympic Stadium and the so-called lack of atmosphere. In fact, the Boleyn Ground could resemble a library at times, just like any other ground in the country. And, believe it or not, they did lose games there as well. That said, many teams have taken time to adjust to their new surroundings after switching grounds and West Ham are certainly making heavy weather of things.
Getty Images
3/6 New signings
West Ham brought in 11 new players over the summer and yet only one of them, Andre Ayew, could be considered a starter in Slaven Bilic's first-choice line-up - and he was injured half an hour into his debut. Of the rest, Ashley Fletcher has shown potential but Simone Zaza is struggling to make an impact up front while Gokhan Tore, Sofiane Feghouli and Arthur Masuaku frankly look out of their depth. Their exit from the Europa League has left the Hammers with a bloated squad full of average players.
West Ham United via Getty Images
4/6 Injuries
New stadium, same old story. Yet while Andy Carroll being injured comes as little surprise, the loss of Ayew and Aaron Cresswell - as well as Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini earlier in the season - has taken its toll. Diafra Sakho's move to West Brom fell through due to concerns over his fitness so he remains at the club, but he too is still injured.
Getty Images
5/6 Defending
The Hammers have conceded 14 goals in their last four Premier League matches and at times have looked a shambles at the back. Time seems to be catching up with James Collins while Winston Reid and Angelo Ogbonna have become error-prone and Bilic does not seem to trust talented teenager Reece Oxford. All of which makes the sale of James Tomkins to rivals Crystal Palace utterly baffling. Thankfully the experiment of playing Michail Antonio at right-back seems to be over, but on the other flank Masuaku looks like a disaster waiting to happen.
West Ham United via Getty Images
6/6 Maybe they're not actually that good
Yes, West Ham were challenging for a top-four finish last term, but Leicester won the league, remember? At the end of last season the Hammers lost 4-1 at home to Swansea and slumped 2-1 at Stoke on the final day to drop to seventh. The memorable win over Manchester United in the last game at Upton Park may just have papered over the cracks appearing in a team already on the slide. Payet took the Premier League by storm last season but even he can't win every game on his own. Perhaps teams are finding out that if you keep him quiet, there is not too much else to worry about.
PA
“There were two interesting things about it. One, it had £100m worth of debt. Two, it had no what I would call culture. At football clubs we don’t make anything, we don’t manufacture anything, we don’t really produce anything other than more players.
“So getting the culture right, being a place where something is expected of you, having discipline, planning and process and strategy. That wasn’t there.”
Brady later added: “The Olympic Stadium had been built less than a mile away from us; we saw that as a real opportunity to change the brand of the club.”
Brady was heralded with securing the ‘deal of the century’ in securing the then-Olympic Stadium for an annual rent of around £2.5m per annum.
With their new stadium in place and several star names now on their books, West Ham seem well set to profit from their participation in the Premier League – the club registered a record turnover of £121m last season.
It means they are reluctant to see any move from other leagues to craft a European Super League, which West Ham would likely find themselves locked out of.
Discussing the possibility of a European league with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentis she made clear that the Hammers priority was the status quo: “We recognise that the Premier League is the best league in the world, one of the UK’s best exports. It’s recognised as a place of integrity and competition. Domestically we are very happy.
“One of the issues that sport has is the amount of money generated that is paid to the players… There has to be more to football than money.
“The stadium is not what makes a football club – it's the people who support it. Protecting their tradition, values and integrity is very important.”
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