West Ham stadium contract needs simplifying, says LLDC
West Ham's contract with the owners of the London Stadium needs simplifying to put an end to the ongoing 'tension' surrounding their tenancy, according to the former heads of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC).
West Ham are currently at loggerheads with the LLDC, their landlords, and E20, the company set up to run the former Olympic Stadium.
The club's move to Stratford from Upton Park in 2016 has been beset by problems, culminating in pitch invasions and anti-board protests by fans at the recent match against Burnley.
But behind the scenes West Ham are locked in a legal battle with the LLDC over the club's wish to increase the ground's capacity, while a report in The Times on Wednesday morning revealed a further legal dispute involving such minutiae as who should foot the bill to provide draught beer and Sky TV on a match day.
The decisions which led to the current malaise were laid bare by the London Assembly Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee on Wednesday afternoon as it discussed the recent report commissioned by London Mayor Sadiq Khan into the spiralling cost of running the stadium.
Neale Coleman, the former deputy chairman of the LLDC and one of the key decision makers during the process which made West Ham the anchor tenants, said: "It's regrettable and it's a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed.
"The problem is complexity of the arrangements, if they could be simplified that would help.
"There's no reason why these arrangements shouldn't work. They work in Germany quite commonly, where you have a stadium owner, an anchor tenant and an operator.
"But we did end up in this position with the concession agreement whereby the costs fell on the LLDC rather than West Ham, and that creates a tension.
"We have seen that in the recent days and weeks around the stewarding issues, control and cost."
Even West Ham's desire to change the colour of the carpeted area around the pitch to their claret colours, which they are willing to pay for, has been blocked by the LLDC.
David Edmonds, the former LLDC chairman, revealed: "West Ham were very tough, very hard negotiators. If you only have one person to take the deal or not you tend to make compromises.
"That gives people on the other side of the table the ability to question whether you are fulfilling your side of the contract.
"I recall many conversations with (West Ham vice-chairman) Karren Brady about the 'look and feel' of the stadium.
"In the contract we promised to give the stadium the look and feel of their old stadium. But the interpretation of look and feel can be quite different.
"That allowed a lot of dissention to arise thereafter. With hindsight I'd have gone with a partnership and not this strong, legalistic contractual deal."