A leading West Ham board source has made a quite incredible claim about a new stadium build that fans will barely believe.
The London Stadium is quite literally the ‘white’ elephant in the room of any conversation involving West Ham.
The vast majority of Hammers fans cannot abide their new home ground at Stratford nearly 10 years on from the move there.
West Ham left their beloved Upton Park, where supporters were so close to the pitch opposition players used to say you could feel their breath on their necks, on the promise of competing with the Premier League elite.
But many feel the club left its soul at the Boleyn and – bar a couple of seasons under David Moyes – there has been no sign of reaching the fabled next level.
Board source’s incredible new West Ham stadium build claim
In fact fans have become increasingly frustrated that the club has still had to sell its best player of a generation in Declan Rice, and another top player in Mohammed Kudus, to direct London rivals.
So much for competing with the Premier League elite.
West Ham fans who did not resist the stadium move feel they were lured to the London Stadium under false pretences.
Promised a ‘world class team in a world class stadium’ and ‘a state-of-the-art retractable seating solution’, it is easy to see why.
The former Olympic Stadium is often a soulless bowl not fit for football.
Especially when the team is not doing well.
And West Ham have not been doing well for nearly two years.
The stadium sits at the very heart of almost all the grievances fans have fuelling the latest uprising against the owners.
Supporters will never be truly happy until the stadium issue is sorted.
That is either by owning the ground and redeveloping it into a proper football stadium or moving to a new purpose-built arena.
Videos emerged over the weekend showing some very simple fixes that would vastly improve the London Stadium for West Ham fans.
But most believe any of the above will require ambitious new owners regardless.
Now a top board source has made an incredible new West Ham stadium build claim fans will barely believe.
Hammers fans will barely believe London Stadium update
Sean Whetstone counts West Ham majority owner David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady among his close contacts.
Now Whetstone has made a series of stunning claims about West Ham’s future at the London Stadium, potential ownership of the ground and what might happen should that not be viable.
The Hammers have 90 years remaining on their 99-year lease at the Olympic Stadium.
So the most obvious solution would be ownership and subsequent redevelopment of the stadium.
But there could be huge twists to come in the future, with much depending on whether Brady and London Mayor Sadiq Khan stay in their posts.
“The London Stadium is extremely unlikely to be directly owned by West Ham in our lifetimes without huge hurdles being overcome,” Whetstone said on X.
“Last week, we revealed that costs for the London Stadium have passed £1.2 billion, with £710m of that coming from accumulated losses. In 2013 London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) signed a 99-year concessionaire agreement with West Ham worth an initial £2.5m per year, which has since grown to £4m per season.
“With so much public money invested, no living politician will approve the public asset sale, and if truth be known, no one would want to buy it unless it was for a nominal fee. Onerous contracts also made it almost impossible to sell without paying many more millions in compensation.
“The final obstacle is state aid regulations, EU regulations that prohibit public authorities from giving selective financial advantages to companies, including football clubs, which distorts competition. UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, must ensure its member clubs comply with these rules despite the UK leaving the EU.
“It had been hoped that the potential dismantling of the LLDC in 2025 would lead to the London Stadium being leased by a third party, but in the end, the LLDC was just slimmed down instead after losing its planning powers in April this year, and the toxic London Stadium asset was transferred to a Greater London Authority (GLA) holding company.
‘West Ham may decide to move elsewhere or build a new stadium’
“There had been talk over companies leasing the wider Queen Elizabeth Park and all of the venues, including the London Stadium, but the separation of the stadium from the park now makes that unlikely.
“Long-term, the most sensible solution is to lease West Ham the stadium to operate it themselves in a similar model to that Manchester City enjoys. The challenge to that deal is the individuals involved.
“London Mayor Sadiq Khan and West Ham Vice Chairman Karren Brady don’t get on politically or personally, and it is difficult to see a deal being concluded while both are still in their posts. Khan will not face another election until May 2028, while Brady has been at West Ham since 2010 and shows no sign of stepping down despite pressure from protestors to leave.
“Either one, or both vacating their current roles could be the key to unlocking West Ham’s stadium ambitions and creating the breakthrough to conclude a deal for West Ham to have control. The current London Stadium contract runs until 2112, when the politicians who made the decisions will be long gone and so will most of us. That is most likely the most obvious date to transfer ownership to West Ham, but by then, the club may decide to move elsewhere or build a new stadium.”
