West Ham losing £2m a game during ‘fatal’ shut out of fans, warns Karren Brady

Warning | Karren Brady says the lack of fans is “fatal” for football clubs
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Jack Rosser @JackRosser_17 November 2020

West Ham are losing £2million per home match while games are behind closed doors, vice-chairman Karren Brady has revealed.

The Hammers recently took out a new loan with Barclays Bank, secured against their payments from the Premier League until the end of next season, to ensure they are more financially secure following the pandemic.

 Clubs in Leagues One and Two are set for a £50m rescue package from the Premier League, but Brady - who took a 30 per cent wage cut in April - has warned that the impact is desperate even at the highest level of football.

“It’s fatal for everybody,” Brady told BBC Breakfast. “West Ham is losing £2m a match in lost ticket revenue and corporate revenue. Some clubs are losing as much as £10million a match.

“You talk about the pyramid of football but there is also a pyramid within the Premier League. Right at the top you have clubs owned by sovereign states and right at the bottom you have those who are not. Everyone is suffering but just like smaller businesses, whether football or non-football, they don’t have many cash reserves and that is what is happening to the smaller football clubs.”

Clubs spent fortunes in order for fans to return after the initial proposed date of October 1, which was scrapped by the government after a spike in case numbers, despite cinemas and indoor theatres remaining open. Pressure is mounting on the government to lay out a clear plan for the return of supporters and Brady says clubs must "do everything" to make those returning feel safe once they do.

West Ham, who before the latest lockdown restrictions were put in place backed the <strong>Evening Standard</strong>'s Bring Back the Fans campaign, have worked to make the London Stadium a covid-secure environment.

“We couldn’t have our supporters in which is literally why football exists but you could watch a game at the cinema, the O2 was open, the Royal Albert Hall was open, the London Palladium was open but open-aired, Covid-free stadiums aren’t,” said Brady.

“So I get that frustration. We are told it is early next March before we let supporters in. We have to do everything in terms of making people feel safe, giving the Government confidence that we can provide these Covid-19 safe stadiums.

“Some of the systems we have put in place - being ticketless, one-way systems, socially-distanced seats, closing the bars, testing and tracing people, temperature checks and so on, all of those things I hope are building towards allowing the supporters in because they are the reason why we exist. The atmosphere is suffering from it and we need them back.”

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