The lady's not for turning, Brady tells LLDC
- by Staff Writer
- Tuesday, 11th September 2018
There will be no u-turn from West Ham vice chair Karren Brady regarding comments West Ham United made regarding the London Legacy Development Corporation, say the club.
The ongoing war of words between the two entities shows no sign of easing following West Ham's latest missive, in which the club refused to retract specific comments made in an earlier statement regarding the LLDC.
In a letter from Karren Brady to the Corporation's chair Peter Hendy, which has been shared with the media, West Ham rejected accusations that they had accused Chief Executive Lyn Garner of being economical with the truth following a complaint from the LLDC on Monday.
"I would like to make it clear to you that at no time did West Ham state that LLDC officials had lied," read West Ham's response. "We said the statement Ms Garner had made was misleading the public because it did not present all the facts. We stand by that statement.
"I was deeply concerned, having watched footage of the London Assembly hearing, about the way in which both West Ham United's agreement with E20 and our role in the overall financial pressures which E20 and the stadium are experiencing was presented, as it omitted a number of key facts.
"In her evidence to you Ms Garner had said that one of your financial concerns was the £2,5million fee West Ham United pays in rent. She said 'the elephant in the room is the fee they pay us for usage costs does not cover the event-day costs'.
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"The inference was that we pay too little by way of rent. The words 'elephant in the room' created an impression that West Ham was to blame for not paying enough to meet operating costs.
"We felt Ms Garner could have made clear that in drawing attention to this elephant in the room that she was not laying the blame at West Ham United's door but she did not. It is plain to see why the media reported her comments as they did. We were forced into issuing a statement of our own to correct inaccuracies in the report."
Having refused to apologise or retract their previous statement, Brady then went one stage further by taking a fresh sideswipe at the stadium's management company E20, who she accused of mismanaging available funds.
"In our view (with many years of experience of operating a stadium behind us) we are staggered that the operating costs at the London Stadium exceed revenue," continued the letter. "In our view, the actual elephant in the room is E20's failure to manage the operating costs competently."
Story re @WestHamUtd. Full Karren Brady letter attached. https://t.co/a5Itttg2MP pic.twitter.com/MuVq69eboU
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) September 11, 2018
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