A video resurfaces of Karren Brady explaining what West Ham promised their fans when they moved to the London Stadium.
An old clip sees the vice-chairman saying supporters would have a “world-class viewing experience”, with retractable seating moving the lower tiers closer to the pitch, hiding the running track, for it to be an intimate, enclosed atmosphere from the large roof, comparable or better distances than Wembley or the Emirates, with improved facilities like more toilets and internal catering to reduce queues and a large single-tier stand.
It comes amid discontent, protests and boycotts from fans against West Ham United’s board and the 2016 move from Upton Park to the London Stadium, more recently at the game against Nottingham Forest.
The actual attendance for was in the region of 34,000 – almost half the official attendance posted by the club. But Karren Brady denies claims that over 25,000 fans decided not to attend the match on Monday.
Karren Brady denies that over 25,000 fans decided not to attend West Ham’s game against Forest on Monday but instead many Hammers fans had been given plastic white seat outfits for Christmas presents instead
— Kieran Maguire (@KieranMaguire) January 8, 2026
The actual attendance for West Ham’s game against Nottingham Forest at the London Stadium was in the region of 34,000 – almost half the official attendance posted by the club https://t.co/5SDaTyukaZ
— Jacob Steinberg 🎗️ (@JacobSteinberg) January 7, 2026
Beer garden inside soulless West Ham stadium. pic.twitter.com/sarlJqrzDl
— Petr Hajek (@PeeterpoolPetr) January 8, 2026
This is what West Ham promised their fans when they moved to the London Stadium.
— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) January 7, 2026
In the video, she is heard saying: “The roof at 84 metres is the largest spanning tent style roof in the world, but more importantly than that, that is what creates the atmosphere.
“It slightly dips in, it really does cover every single seat in the ground including all of those that are retractable, and actually when you’re inside some of the visuals that we’ve seen in places across the world where they use this type of roof, you really get a sense of how intimate and enclosed it makes the entire stadium.
“This picture shows the stadium as you would recognise it in the Olympics.
“This is the stadium during athletics mode.
“As you can see, the running track in athletics mode is clearly visible from all four sides of the stadium.
“And the next image I’m going to show you is how the stadium looks in football mode.
“First of all, you’ll notice a state-of-the-art seating solution which delivers what we’ve always promised to our supporters a truly world-class viewing experience for watching football.
“It’s an automated system using drive motors that will move all four sides of the lower bowl forward and bring the seats closer to the pitch.
“The running track will not be visible when the stadium is in football mode.
“The seating distances compare more than favourably with the top stadia around the world including Wembley and the recently built Emirates Stadium.
“And I can promise you that no seat will be further away than that offered at Wembley Stadium.
“To ensure that the Olympic Stadium will feel like our home, we have managed to agree that two of the stands will be named after the club legends Bobby Moore and Sir Trevor Brooking.
“To finalise the details we still need to consult with you but our suggestion is that we have a stand behind each of the goal just like at the bowling ground.
“You’ll notice on the east stand we have created a bridge between the upper and lower tier to create one big cop style stand. This shot is an aerial view of the podium image that we haven’t previously released.
“The yellow areas are the facilities, the toilets, 995 of those.
“And the pink areas are the catering units of which there’s twice as many than are currently available here at the bowling ground.
“You can see here that the catering outlets and kiosks are now brought inside the stadium to form part of the main stadium as you would expect to see from a more conventional football stadium unlike in Athletics and Olympics mode where they were all based outside.
“The aim is that the long queues to get your drinks and food at half time will be less of an issue because as you can see the facilities really are plentiful.
“Now this image again is very technical but in the top level it shows the seating as it will be in Athletics and in the bottom level you’ll see how the lower tier retracts forward to be closer to the pitch in football mode.
“These seats are permanent despite the fact that they move.
“They’re not temporary, they’re incredibly high spec, they’re there all year round.
“The only difference is in Athletics mode they’re further away from the pitch than in football mode you can see they’re significantly closer.
“Because it was really important to us to create the cop style stand the east stand will have a bridge installed here and that will actually connect the two stands together making one major stand.”
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Here’s how fans reacted after a video resurfaces of what West Ham promised their fans when they moved to the London Stadium…
@linkylionel: Ah yes the old “motorised retractable seats” still being built Karen ? 😂⚒️ @karren_brady you people should be ashamed of yourselves especially Sullivan – not sure how you people can even enter the place and sit there knowing how you have failed the club – shameful
@smith_arro42884: The worst stadium move in UK football history. Sullivan & Brady moving us there, is right up there with the Wimbledon/MK dons incident. The move has totally finished the club, to a point where hardly any West Ham fans from Upton Park still attend
@adam09685794: Feel sorry for West Ham fans going from a proper old school traditional stadium that created an intimidating atmosphere to this athletic stadium. They literally killed the club this is why I never want to move from Hillsborough, upgrade yes but move no chance
@darrelpartridge: Anyone questioning why west ham fans hate the board this was the start of it! Promised a dream nd given a nightmare. Ask away fans about the “world class” stadium they’ll tell you its shit. Lies, lies, lies . didn’t want to move but was sold a lie to make it happen RIP the boleyn
@Mr_BA6: The “incredibly high spec” retractable seating comment is sickening. It looks fucking awful. Sold us all up the river for this rented shit stadium. We’ve had no choice but to get used to it but it’s shit. And will look even more shit next year in the championship
@V1ctor_Meldrew: I feel sorry for West Ham fans, but unfortunately I can’t say I don’t believe it!! State of the art scaffolding it’s like a mash upbetween the Withdean and Gillingham.
@aroundgroundsss: It has to be hands down the worst move from a ground to a new ground a team has ever and will ever do. If in a West Ham fan I’m honestly livid. #WHUFC
@gcertifedd: Worst away end in the league. Worst stadium in the league. Even West Ham fans hate it.
@pollard2211: I’ve never been to a worse ground in the English leagues for view or atmosphere. Location shit aswel. I feel sorry for the generation of West Ham fans that can remember Upton Park. The biggest warning in football for moving away is this.
@p3ter1872: This club needs a proper ground built for them again, West Ham as a club have completely died since moving here
@WestHamUSA: Yeah, they lied. They’ve been lying for 15 years. Nobody believed us. Any success West Ham have had is a testament to the players and managers. No club could survive David Sullivan.
@CappySeventyOne: “Intimate”. Genuinely the worst away day ground in the 92, if your are on the upper tier
@andyinexile: Straight away about the roof covering every seat…I’m 15 rows back, if it rains, I get fucking soaked
Used to love going west ham but it’s now the worst away end in the country . Who designed that?? Just massive space of nothing between the two tiers . Such a shame Upton park was top. pic.twitter.com/jiGLDTJSRl
— OGGY (@mcfcpipe) January 7, 2026
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