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Co-owner David Sullivan insists that the Olympic Stadium - and its legacy - are in safe hands with West Ham United.

Although it is less than 12 months away now, West Ham's impending move - two miles as the crow flies from East to West Ham - continues to be challenged by various parties. Only last month the BBC published a new investigation into West Ham's tenure of the iconic edifice, whilst a supporters' coalition of London clubs have recently called for a full public enquiry.

However Sullivan, speaking in the second part of his exclusive KUMB West Ham Podcast interview (coming soon) hit out at the critics who claim the process to secure an anchor tenant wasn't quite as transparent as it perhaps should have been.

"What everyone forgets is that when the bidding process started three or four years ago the whole world could bid for that," he said. "I think four people did - Leyton Orient, Formula One (for one day a year and some other scheme) plus us and Tottenham.

"We were chosen as the best bid. Tottenham were going to demolish it - well what sort of legacy is that? Also they would have come into our borough which would have been horrendous for us.

"We were financially the best bid for the stadium. It's not our fault that the price we paid was a good price for us. Why didn't othher clubs bid? Why didn't Tottenham offer more? Why didn't Charlton Athletic offer more? Why didn't anybody.

"So it was a fair and open tender rigoorously managed by a group of top West End lawyers - and we were chosen because we were the best bid. "



Sullivan, who was speaking to Podcast hosts Chris Scull and James Longman also insisting West Ham's occupancy of the £750million stadium would prove beneficial for everyone - and not just the football club or its owners.

"We will leave a terrific legacy, I promise you, and it will work as a stadium for eveybody," he insisted.

"We've done a good deal, but i would say to people there's lots of benefits for the LLDC that people don't know about that are in the contract. A huge part of the income that we're giving up is catering, they et virtually all the catering income. No-one has mentioned that and it's huge.

"It's like if you run a cinema you get very little out of the films as the money is all in the catering. If you've got Harry Potter on that week you're selling so much popcorn and so-and-so it's profitable for the cinema operator.

"That's exactly what will happen at the Olmpic Stadium. So it's a terrific deal for the legacy, for the stadium, for the community and the jobs that will be created and for West Ham. It's a great deal for everyone, a win-win situation."




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