West Ham United have made a somewhat surprising but very welcome announcement about vice-chair Karren Brady.
Speculation emerged at the start of the month that Karren Brady is on the verge of leaving West Ham after more than 15 years as vice-chair.
The rumours came as a shock given Hammers News had been told Brady is now ‘more powerful than ever’ in the new West Ham setup.
Football correspondent Graeme Bailey had lifted the lid on Brady’s increasing Hammers influence.
“And as you can imagine she won’t want to give that up anytime soon,” Bailey said.
It is fair to say the Apprentice TV star has never been the most universally popular figure among Hammers fans.
Rumours of Brady leaving West Ham were ‘laughed off’
Nobody on the West Ham board has been in truth.
It would take a hard-nosed Hammers fan to deny Brady has done a superb job turning around the club’s financial situation since arriving in 2010.
Although West Ham insist money is tight this summer due to PSR – which has been repeatedly claimed by the highest echelons of the club.
Given reports of being in the strongest position she has ever enjoyed at the London Stadium, it was surprising to hear talk that Brady might be on her way out.
The news came on April Fool’s Day – and although the claim was not a prank it nonetheless proved baseless.
West Ham laughed off the claims Brady could be set to leave.
Hammers News recently had dialogue with Brady and her team regarding major issues for fans at the London Stadium.
She promised she would continue to converse with fans over things such as the atmosphere-killing fan wall at the Stratford ground.
Now there is further proof the Baroness is going nowhere anytime soon.
Because West Ham have made a surprising but very welcome Brady announcement.
West Ham’s surprising but very welcome Brady announcement
In what appears to be a somewhat unprecedented step, Hammers fans have been invited to put questions on any issues directly to the vice-chair.
And for full transparency, the club have pledged to post the answers on their website and in the matchday programme.
Given the hostility towards Brady from a large section of the fanbase, it is a brave move.
But a very welcome one given West Ham fans have previously complained of their voices and feelings being ignored.
“West Ham United is committed to ensuring that the voice of our fans is reflected at every level of decision making,” a club statement reads.
“One of the board’s key objectives is to always put our fans first.
“The club has welcomed the Premier League’s Fan Engagement Standard and as part of our commitment, we will be putting your questions to Club Vice-Chair Baroness Karren Brady.”
Supporters can submit questions about anything relating to supporter experience by 11.59pm on Thursday 24 April.
West Ham hope it will provide them with ‘valuable insight into the issues you believe are important to the fanbase’.
Hammers warn fans over question subject matter
There are some warnings from West Ham over the questions fans submit, though.
Chiefly that the club don’t want questions strictly relating to supporter experience – not the football side of the business on matters such as finances, spending, transfers, the board, team, players or business as a whole.
- Where we receive similar questions these will be combined into themes; and
- If your question relates to your personal circumstances as a fan or contains personal information we will not include this in the Q&A session but may instead respond to you directly via our Supporter Services team.
- Questions should relate to supporter experience rather than the football side of the business.
Some may see that as something of a cop out.
But this is at least a refreshing change and a start in terms of building bridges with supporters.
It comes after the club performed a dramatic U-turn over concessions and ticket price rises before announcing season ticket renewal terms recently.
You can send you questions directly to vice-chair Brady via West Ham’s online form.
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