West Ham United: Charlton apologise to Karren Brady for accusation as government embarrassed
West Ham have received an apology from Charlton in the wake of furious criticism from their minority owner Charlie Methven, according to The Guardian.
The paper reported via their website on 12 March that Hammers co-chair Karren Brady had been contacted by the League One club after his remarks to talkSPORT earlier the same day.
Former Sunderland co-owner Methven had accused West Ham and Crystal Palace of being behind the collapse of a proposed £900million EFL support deal, which has also sparked anger and embarrassment in the government, with The Guardian reporting the breakdown caused “surprise at 10 Downing street”.
Methven told Jim White: “It’s two clubs not far from Charlton, one a little bit to the north and one a little bit to the south west. They’ve got just enough clubs to stop the industry from moving forward…
“It’s on record that Palace and West Ham are leaders of this King Canute style movement. It’s not yet a matter of public record of which clubs they’ve persuaded to be in their corner.
“If you speak to executives from other clubs in the Premier League, they are almost as frustrated as we are. They know because they see a bigger strategic vision of what will happen with the public regulator.
“It’s probably more likely to end up with a scenario they dread, which is reformation of the parachute payments, which would make a difference to these guys.
“Grow up. Remember that these clubs, the clubs they run, were very recently football league members and the fact that in a game of musical chairs they are in the seats they are currently at.
“It doesn’t mean that at some point that their clubs won’t be back in the football league.”
West Ham receive apology after Charlie Methven blast amid £900m collapse
It is perhaps little surprise that clubs in the EFL are upset by the surprise development which saw half of the Premier League clubs refuse to back the proposed deal.
But with the Daily Mail reporting (12 March) that West Ham and Palace were joined by all of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth it is to attribute a lot of influence to the Irons.
The likes of Stan Collymore have angrily criticised the development as well, and it frankly doesn’t paint the club in a very good light.
If West Ham are one of the ringleaders then that will be heightened, although if they are it raises the question as to why Charlton saw fit to apologise for Methven’s remarks, with no indication that they have also been in touch with Steve Parish at Selhurst Park.
Top flight clubs might not like the expense of handing over money to those in the lower leagues, especially when those in the Championship are vying to become direct rivals.
But funding for the rest of the football pyramid is important for the health of football in this country and while Premier League clubs are in the promised land right now many of them, including West Ham, have been on the other side of the divide in recent memory.
Supporters of David Moyes are quick to point out how close to falling out of the top flight the Hammers were before he returned, although he almost took them down himself last season.
And if this only speeds up the arrival of an independent regulator then they aren’t likely to be pleased with that either, and David Sullivan already has plenty of headaches to deal with at the London Stadium as it is.
In other West Ham news, the club are at risk of breaching the Premier League’s proposed new spending rules.
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