Fresh Brady row adds to West Ham's woes

  • by Staff Writer
  • Thursday, 1st February 2018

It has been claimed that West Ham's efforts to sign Islam Slimani from Leicester were rebuffed due to comments made by West Ham United's vice-chair Karren Brady in a tabloid column.

Brady, who writes a weekly diary for The Sun criticised Foxes chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in a 2017 column following the sacking of title-winning boss Claudio Ranieri.

“A fellow Premier League director reports that last night he bumped into the Leicester chairman at London’s most-expensive wine shop," said Brady. "The Leicester owner told him they’d sacked Claudio Ranieri.

"He then casually settled his bill for wine and champagne. Since the sum was close to £500,000 I guess the compensation to his old manager is pocket change. At least the owner can drown his sorrows in style!"


Brady's broadside was reported to have angered Leicester chiefs to the point that West Ham's attempts to secure the £29million striker on loan were never considered; Slimani ended the day as a Newcastle United player instead.

The Guardian adds that Brady had since apologised to Srivaddhanaprabha for any offence that her tabloid piece may have caused and whilst that is said to have been accepted at the time, these developments suggest they hadn't been forgotten - nor forgiven.

At a time when the Baroness and her Board are already under fire from supporters following their inability to push through a number of key deals during the January transfer window - disappointment overshadowed, for now, by the Tony Henry revelations which threaten to damage West Ham United's reputation irreparably - this latest episode will cast further doubt on the owners' ability to improve the club's ailing fortunes.


Although the hungry (but raw) Jordan Hugill arrived on the final day of the month-long window - a deal so under the radar that Sky Sports were (genuinely) first to break the story - his arrival was insufficient compensation for the loss of two established international forwards in Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew - in addition to the departure of several youngsters on the periphery of the first team squad.

And whilst early performances indicate that Joao Mario's acquisition, on loan from Inter, looks to be an astute one, the sale of Ayew - to a relegation rival - has angered, astounded and mystified fans in equal measure according to the latest Forum and social media contributions, despite the Board managing to claw back the bulk of the £20.5million they paid Swansea for the Ghanaian 18 months ago.

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