Kieran Maguire: West Ham have ‘outsmarted everyone’ with ‘deal of the century’
West Ham have “outsmarted” the London Stadium landlords by effectively passing off their extra security bills to the taxpayer.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the rental agreement at the 66,000-seater stadium.
West Ham pay approximately £2.5m per season to play in the former Olympic Park which is governed by London Legacy Development Corporation.
As relayed by the Evening Standard last Thursday (8 December), LLDC’s accounts revealed that the taxpayer paid an extra £500,000 for additional security needed at the London Stadium.
It has since emerged that West Ham have not ruled out the possibility of buying the stadium.
But Maguire claims that the current arrangement with LLDC is “the deal of the century”.
“This is indicative of what we have seen with the agreement,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“There is no doubt that the club have got the deal of the century in terms of the London Stadium.
“The trouble is that if one party has a fantastic deal, the other tends to end up with a poor deal. This does appear to be the case as far as the landlords of the stadium are concerned.
“That is ultimately passed to the taxpayer if the landlords end up losing money.
“Credit has to be given to West Ham for negotiating such a deal, which is so beneficial for the club. It means they have effectively outsmarted everyone they were negotiating with.“
In other news, pundit issues West Ham “travesty” claim after source’s David Moyes update.