West Ham face £35million debt repayments before Olympic Stadium moveWith three years still to go until the move from Upton Park,Karren Brady reveals that the Hammers "can't take the debt" with them
Karren Brady has today admitted that West Ham United will have to clear around £35million worth of debt before they move into the Olympic Stadium in 2016.TheHammers are £70million in the red and half of that is tied into theirUpton Park home. Brady, speaking at the House of Lords' committee onOlympic and Paralympic legacy today,
is also wary that the club'scurrent home will need to be sold soon in order to ease the financialburden on owners David Sullivan and David Gold."We did have atentative deal to sell Upton Park but that fell away," she said thismorning. "We hope the money generated from the sale of Upton Park willbe enough to fulfil our commitment and to help pay off some of our bankdebt."When we bought the club we took on more than £100million ofdebt that was guaranteed on the ground. We have to pay off all our bankdebt to move, we can't take the debt with us.
"If there is any excess it will meet some of that debt but I don't expect there will be."
ManagerSam Allardyce has been backed reasonably well in the transfer marketthis summer, notably parting with £15million to sign Andy Carroll fromLiverpool. However one of the areas which may suffer in the club's plansto repay the sum may be player recruitment.The club, though, will be optimistic in their ability to do so without too much disruption to first-team affairs.
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