West Ham United: London Stadium legal action pending as payment highlighted in club accounts
West Ham are still facing the threat of possible legal action over the stadium lease, according to Hugh Southon.
The Six Foot Two editor highlighted some key figures from the Hammers’ accounts on his personal Twitter page on Saturday [30 December].
United published their financial numbers from the year ending May 31 2023 on Friday [29 December].
Southon wrote: “West Ham paid £3,941,000 to the London Stadium owners E20 last season in addition to the £2,588,000 paid in 2021 so £6,529,000 in total accounts have revealed.
“The Stadium lease penalty clause related to the sale of shares in WH Holding Limited to 1890s holdings a.s (Daniel Kretinsky) which triggered a further payment under the 2013 Concession Agreement to the owners of the stadium, E20 Limited.
“A footnote in the West Ham accounts says *The stadium lease penalty clause payment made in March 2023 is being contested meaning legal action is still pending.”
Complicated
The headline news from West Ham’s accounts for 2022-23 is that they made a pre-tax loss of £18.3million, with turnover falling £16m on the previous year.
This is effectively down to spending big on new players such as Lucas Paqueta and Nayef Aguerd, plus the increased wage salary that comes with bringing in bigger names.
There was plenty of other information in the lengthy document, though, including this point raised with regards to the stadium.
A sum of £6.5m has now been paid to the London Stadium owners, E20, which barely touches the surface.
As Nick Harris reported for the Daily Mail on 25 March, the owners of the London Stadium spent more than £7m of taxpayers’ money on lawyers’ fees in their dispute with West Ham.
It was claimed that the true cost of the Olympic Stadium – or London Stadium – will reach around £1billion by the end of the decade.
The behind-the-scenes wrangling does not look set to end any time soon, but thankfully as supporters we do not really have to concern ourselves with that.
Instead, let’s just continue to enjoy what we are seeing on the field in this very successful period for the club.
In other West Ham news, Richard Keys has spoken out on the controversy that blighted the win over Arsenal.