West Ham United will NOT be moving to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford in 2012, it was confirmed this afternoon.
A statement from the 2012 board, released today said:"The board reiterated that the priority was to deliver an Olympic stadium on time and on budget.
"The board unanimously decided, therefore, that it would not be possible to deliver this in collaboration with West Ham, or indeed any other Premier League football club, due to the number of design changes and associated time delays that the West Ham proposal would incur."
One of United's desired design changes was that the stadium should have collapsing seats to cover the proposed running track during matches - just one of the features deemed too expensive by the Olympic board which is comprised of Tessa Jowell, Ken Livingstone, Sebastian Coe and BOA chairman Colin Moynihan.
However the board - which has insisted that the stadium be reduced to a 25,000 capacity once the Games end - refused to rule out a deal with a lower league club; Orient are one of those known to have made enquiries in recent weeks.
Eggert Magnusson is already thought to be weighing up alternative sites in and around East London, one of which is rumoured to be the site of Parcel Force close by West Ham tube station.
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