West Ham to clear debt before move to Olympic Stadium

West Ham must pay off all their bank debt before they move to the Olympic Stadium, vice‑chairman Karren Brady revealed today.

The Hammers have debts of £70million, half of that bank debt secured on Upton Park, and that has to be cleared when the ground is sold ahead of the move in 2016. If they failed to raise the necessary £35m then co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan would make up the shortfall to ensure the club could take up the 99-year lease.

The club had a buyer for Upton Park but that fell through due to the delays in the deal to be tenants.Brady added she did not expect the sale would cover much more than the lump sum the club must pay to the London Legacy Development Corporation to move to the Olympic venue.

She said: “We had a tentative deal [for Upton Park] but that fell away. We hope the money generated from the sale will be enough to fulfil our commitment and help pay off some of our bank debt.

“When we bought the club and took on more than £100m of debt that was guaranteed on the ground. We have to pay off all our bank debt to move, we can’t take the debt with us. If there is any excess [from Upton Park sale] it will meet some of that debt but I don’t expect there will be.”