West Ham vice-chairman blasts Tottenham "smash and grab" raid on Olympic Stadium

By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

December 24 – West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady has launched a bitter attack on Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur’s controversial campaign to take over the Olympic Stadium following London 2012, claiming they are not welcome in the area.

West Ham are the favourites to be awarded the Stadium by the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) but Tottenham’s bid is being seen as increasingly strong and financially more viable.

But Tottenham’s plan to take over the Olympic Stadium has attracted criticism from its own supporters and local MP David Lammy, who want them to redevelop their current ground at White Hart Lane rather than move across London to Stratford.

“It is an understatement to say I’m unhappy with the way Spurs have gone about trying to wrest the rights to the Olympic Stadium from us,” Brady writes in her weekly column published in The Sun today.

“Our bid has been founded on goodwill to the community, to the Council, to athletics and sport overall.

“We have powerful support and the funds.

“Spurs’ is an attempted smash and grab in our manor, sneaky and of no known benefit to anyone beyond their backers and major shareholders, who by the way are not based in the UK and don’t pay UK tax unlike our owners who have always lived, worked, employed and paid tax here.

“Even their own fans hate the idea of a multi-mile move.

“Spurs are trying to muscle in where they are not wanted.”

The OPLC are expected to announce a decision on who will take over the Stadium by the end of next March.

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