Richard Lane accuses West Ham of reneging on agreement to share FA Cup revenue
West Ham reneged on an agreement to give their revenue from their FA Cup win to Kidderminster according to Harriers owner Richard Lane.
The Hammers apparently decided to donate the money to local charities instead, leading their opponent’s to bemoan their financial situation despite the cup run.
Lane complained to LBC’s James O’Brien, via Knees Up Mother Brown: “It’s just so frustrating what happened on the day. We had to put so much effort in to put that game on – people do not understand what we went through. We hired so many staff, it was just incredible what we did but it cost the club money.
“It’s about what we get at the end of it and it’s just frustrating that everybody out there thinks this club is now financially sound for the next four or five years – and that is not the case, unfortunately.”
“The news isn’t good. Unfortunately we had the news that they would prefer to invest in local charities and not share the ticket money with us.
“So yes, we are continually being unlucky – with the result and with the FA denying us a replay [in London] which is depriving us again from some well-earned money to help the regeneration and growth of this club.”
Odd decision
Kiddy’s big day appears to have left a bitter taste as they were cruelly denied a famous victory by injury-time goals after 90 and 120 minutes.
Declan Rice rescued the Hammers in normal time before Jarrod Bowen snatched victory in extra-time.
And if Lane’s claim is accurate the club have also missed out on some of the financial benefit they were expecting.
Donating money to charity is of course not a bad thing, but it seems strange that the Irons would make a point of doing that rather than sharing it with their opponents.
The sixth-tier side fell foul of the FA decision to scrap third and fourth round replays because of fixture congestion in the most excruciating fashion.
In a regular year the home side’s performance would have netted them a major windfall via a London Stadium replay, as it would have done had it been a round later.
To implement the change in just those two rounds significantly hampered lower-league teams’ chances of securing a lucrative run and felt like another example of the top of the football pyramid being protected over the bottom.
The Hammers, who do not appear to have responded to the claim, could have helped ease that but apparently decided not to.
Although an FA study suggested the club would have banked over £500,000 plus another £800,000 for the local area (Mirror), Lane has been left unhappy.
The charities in question would surely beg to differ but from a football perspective it seems a bit of a harsh decision.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes reportedly made a £100million admission following the cup tie.