Olympic Whistleblower Revealed

West Ham’s original bid to occupy the Olympic Stadium was scuttled by an architect who had worked on the project.

Steve Lawrence told Sky News Feb. 16 he had complained to the European Union about The Hammers’ bid because he believed the £40 million loan the club needed from Newham Council amounted to illegal state aid.

Lawrence’s anonymous tip-off came to light at the High Court last October, prompting the Olympic Park Legacy Company to scrap the first bidding process – which West Ham had won – and open another.

“If it had been shown to be illegal, and I’m not saying it was necessarily, then in those circumstances West Ham would have had to repay the subsidy,” he explained.

“If that had happened after they had moved out of Upton Park and that ground had been redeveloped, then they would have been in a position where the would have had to return the stadium to the authorities and they would have been homeless.”

He said the EU would have required the UK authorities to recover the illegal state aid.

Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn, whose club – along with Tottenham Hotspur – protested the use of the Olympic venue going to West Ham, told Sky that “we’ve built the wrong stadium.”

“You can’t play football there,” he said, pointing out that retaining the athletics track – which is a condition of the reopened bidding process – means there will be a gap of at least 40 yards between the crowd and the soccer pitch.

“They didn’t listen to advice five years ago when everyone was saying what type of stadium can work,” he said. “We have to face these problems and be honest or it’s going to be a horrendous white elephant.

“Four years ago the OPLC announced they were going to have their tenants lined up in a matter of months – that was four years ago and we’re no closer.”