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On Monday night at Anfield, both before and during the 3-2 defeat against Liverpool, West Ham United supporters held aloft a large banner emblazoned with the slogan 'Karren Brady - You're Fired'.

The flag, part of a concerted effort to drive Brady and her two employers, David Sullivan and David Gold out of the club has been steadily gathering pace since Hammers United, the supporters group behind the demonstration, held their inaugural rally at the Olympic Park in January.

A further protest is planned for this Saturday lunchtime, ahead of the Premier League clash with Southampton - an event which thousands of fans are expected to attend. Yet many supporters remain in the dark as to why so many of their fellow fans believe it is time for vice chair Brady - for one - to seek alternative employment.

So in order to ascertain just why so many supporters back the Baroness' removal, we took a look back at her record since becoming an employee of West Ham United in 2010 to find out just why protesting fans feel it is time for Brady to say sayonara, and head for pastures new...




1. A champion of women?

Over the years Brady has modelled herself as a self-styled champion of women in the workplace, although it has been claimed that her dubious business connections undermine her suitability for such a role.

The vice-chair's longstanding working relationship with David Sullivan, who was once referred to as "blow job or no job" by a glamour model who worked for West Ham's co-owner during his time as a purveyor of adult material, is one of the key reasons for this view.

The issue of providing a weekly column in failing tabloid newspaper The Sun - a low-grade national daily which is well-known for having published pictures of 16-year-old models in its heyday, something that Brady has dismissed out of hand previously when questioned about the paper's seedy past - has also been raised.


2. Control freak

She is sometimes referred to as "the first lady of football" - yet you will not be too hard-pressed to find a former employee of West Ham United who'll confirm that Brady can sometimes be anything but 'lady-like'.

The fallouts and disagreements with staff - at all levels, from junior members to those involved with the first team - have been frequently hinted at, whilst former employees have written to KUMB to share their tales of woe having crossed the Baroness.

One ex-member of the medical team, it is said, left the club as a result of Brady's constant interference, whilst others have expressed concern about her berating of staff at lower levels. But being a close acquaintance of the Baroness can be beneficial too; the wife of former Academy Head Terry Westley, who replaced the legendary Tony Carr, was a close friend of Brady's.


3. What's in a name?

Upon being appointed as the club's vice chair in January 2010, Brady appeared to take a pop at her predecessors when making a pledge to the West Ham supporters - at the same time she proposed potentially changing the club's name - "I love the idea of calling us West Ham Olympic", she wrote.

Speaking via her newspaper column, she insisted that the club would never again suffer the financial strife which allowed her employers to purchase a majority stake in the club so cheaply.

"To West Ham fans I'll make a single pledge," she wrote. "While we are on the board, we will hang in the Tower of London before your club again goes through the financial turmoil which so nearly brought it down". West Ham are currently staring down the barrel, with a return to the Championship a very real possibility.


4. The Lyall and Greenwood family season ticket scandal

Less than six months after Brady's arrival at West Ham, one of the first of many scandals erupted when Murray Lyall, the son of West Ham's legendary manager John told KUMB how both his and John's wife Yvonne had had their complimentary season tickets removed by the vice chair and her employers.

The tickets, which had been paid for by West Ham since John's untimely passing in 2006 at the age of just 66 were removed without notice ahead of the 2010/11 season. The families of Lyall and Ron Greenwood, West Ham's fellow legendary manager, only discovered their tickets had been withdrawn when applying for them a matter of days ahead of the new season.

Prior to that, Brady and her employers had also withdrawn the complimentary directors' box tickets afforded to both parties. "After my husband's 34 years' loyal service to the club I felt my family should have been shown greater respect and understanding given the legacy he left behind," said Yvonne Lyall, commenting at the time.


5. Discount dallying

Prior to the club being sold to Sullivan and Gold in 2010, former CEO Scott Duxbury pledged to grant a 20 per cent discount to supporters who had been season ticket holders for at least five successive seasons.

So it was no surprise that the fans were furious when successors Brady, Sullivan and Gold initially refused to honour that pledge - although they later denied that was the case, whilst also claiming to have been unaware of it.

"We reiterate our belief that the club has acted in a transparent way and has not refused to honour the 20 per cent discount," read a statement in response to the fans' fury. "There is some suggestion that the club has been aware of this offer for some time but this is categorically not the case."




6. Potty mouth

When criticised by supporters for failing to attend an away match at Manchester City at the end of the 2010/11 season, her first full campaign at the club and one that ended in relegation, Brady exhibited her now legendary disregard for diplomacy where the fan base is concerned.

Having explained that she missed the match in order to attend her daughter's 15th birthday instead, she told critics: "I'm sure I would be more missed by my 15-year-old than by a bunch of professional footballers. I hope Hammers fans will forgive me, but my simple message to the carpers is this: bog off."

Brady did however manage to attend the club's next away match at Wigan, following which West Ham were relegated from the Premier League and she famously fired Avram Grant in the player's tunnel before telling him to make his own way back to London.


7. The East End: a hotbed of racism

In November 2011, Brady's weekly tabloid column carried a piece in which she claimed the East End was once a 'hotbed of racism', citing a "rain of bananas" that she suggested used to greet West Ham legend Clyde Best when he appeared on the pitch at Upton Park.

Citing her pride at West Ham being voted top of a PFA list of clubs for its anti-racism work, something that she viewed as a personal triumph, Brady's groundless accusation was understandably poorly-received by longstanding fans, none of whom had any recollection of what she had suggested.

Even Best himself, when later asked whether there was any substance to her claims denied that he had been the victim of such intimidation and abuse.


8. Inflated opinions

The decision to raise season ticket costs for disabled fans was "a touchy subject" according to Brady in a 2012 newspaper column. She claimed West Ham's disabled fans hadn't witnessed a raise in season ticket prices above the current rate of inflation for 20 years.

Yet that suggestion was repudiated by KUMB season ticket holder Richard Vann, who confirmed he'd paid a 9.4 per cent increase the season before.

"The cost of season-ticket seats for the disabled is a touchy subject and when it was decided a review of them was needed at Upton Park, we knew we were in a sensitive area," wrote Brady, soon after the club announced plans to raise the average cost of a season ticket for disabled fans by 107 per cent (a figure later reduced to 50 per cent following a campaign by supporters).

To which another fan responding via the KUMB Forum wrote, somewhat presciently, "She is telling porkies about the inflation rate changes unless they're using a very strange inflation calculator. Please just be honest, or we'll start wondering what else is less than true."


9. It'd never happen at Fulham

Sam Allardyce was often at odds with the West Ham fans due to his style of football during his spell as manager, which whilst often effective could rarely be described as progressive.

Yet Big Sam discovered an unlikely ally when Brady leapt to his defence in March 2014 following a 2-1 win against Hull City, who had played much of the game with only ten men after goalkeeper Allan McGregor was dismissed for felling West Ham's Mo Diame in the six-yard box.

"There is no way I can accept MY team being booed," she wrote in her tabloid column the following weekend in defiance of the West Ham fans who had registered their dissatisfaction at the performance. "Big Sam is so upset... I doubt you would get the same at Fulham or Sunderland if they had won."


10. NDA rocks

The original fan construct created by Brady was known as the Supporters' Advisory Board. Engineered to act at a platform for fan engagement ahead of the move to Stratford, the idea was sound - although the execution was anything but.

It didn't take long for the supporters involved to question just how much of their input was being taken on board and before long, the SAB was being criticised as a pointless exercise with only one real aim - to lend an appearance of cooperation between the club and its fanbase.

The final straw for many came when those attending a 2014 SAB meeting were ordered to sign non-disclosure agreements before being granted access to it - whilst also having their phones confiscated. Not so very long after, the group was disbanded.




11. The £1million bonus

In the wake of what she claimed to be "the most successful stadium migration in history", West Ham's annual accounts indicated that Brady was paid a bonus of £1million for the part she played in the move from Upton Park to Stratford.

However nearly four years on and the move to what the vice chair decreed to be the club's "magnificent new home" has turned into something of a nightmare, with a string of promises - such as the provision of retractable seating and seats close to the pitch - having been broken. Additionally, her promise of a "world-class Stadium wrap", which was supposed to have been in situ for the beginning of the 2016/17 Premier League campaign, was vetoed by the stadium owners.

The stadium is at the centre of much of the protesting fans' ire, and a focal point for everything they believe has gone wrong under the current administration's stewardship.


12. The Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha affair

Writing in 2017, Brady upset Leicester City by using her tabloid column to gossip about former chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who tragically died in a helicopter crash the following year.

Sharing scuttlebutt about the Thai billionaire businessman in one of her now infamous weekly Sun articles, West Ham's vice chair claimed she'd been told by "a fellow Premier League director" how he'd met the Foxes' head honcho in a wine shop, where he'd "casually settled" a £500,000 "bill for wine and champagne" following the dismissal of Claudio Ranieri.

"I guess the compensation to his old manager is pocket change," she wrote, adding "at least the owner can drown his sorrows in style!"

Although it is said she later apologised, according to journalist Andrew Dillon the Foxes were said to be so annoyed by Brady's comments that they blocked West Ham's bid to sign striker Islam Slimani on loan a year later - something that was never denied by the club. Slimani went on to join Newcastle United instead.


13. Ill-considered comments for an 'ill-fitting' player

It has frequently been claimed Brady has little knowledge of football, despite having spent the majority of her working life in the boardroom. Her description of Robert Snodgrass as an "ill-fitting player" in December 2017 did little to sway opinion.

Following in the footsteps of employer David Sullivan, who paid Hull City £10million to sign the Scottish international before later telling a newspaper that his two sons "begged me not to sign" the player, Brady also stuck the boot in.

Criticising Snodgrass' signing in her Sun column, Brady stated "Robert Snodgrass wasn't exactly a triumph" whilst he was on loan at A Villa - before being forced to eat her words after the player returned to West Ham, for whom he has always given 100 per cent commitment.


14. Statuesque?

It's not only West Ham supporters who have been angered by some of Karen Brady's decisions over the last decade. Two years ago residents of the area surrounding the club's former home at Upton Park were left furious after the vice chair campaigned to have the Champions statue moved from the junction of Green Street and Barking Road to Stratford.

Even though a KUMB poll demonstrated that four in five West Ham fans believed the statue should remain where it was already located as a permanent reminder of the Boleyn Ground and its favourite sons, Brady urged Newham Council to hold a public consultation regarding the sculpture's future.

But her appeal was dismissed to the joy of local campaigners and the majority of West Ham fans, including local MP Stephen Timms who said: "I am delighted the stature will be staying where it belongs, at the Boleyn, as a permanent reminder of our area's contribution to England's greatest football triumph."


15. Bonus balls

As if the aforementioned £1million bonus on top of her annual salary of just under £900,000 wasn't enough to annoy unhappy fans, Brady was also paid £365,000 plus VAT - a total of £438,000 - for "consultancy work" relating to the sale of 10 per cent of the club's shares to American billionaire Tripp Smith in 2018.

Described at the time by a fellow club employee as work "outside the scope of her role as vice-chairman",the large sum was paid to her company BKB Media Ltd - the acronym referring to Brady's Baroness title. Later, in January 2020, she was awarded a performance-related bonus of £238,000, taking her annual remuneration to in excess of £1.1million for the financial year.





16. The OSB

With the SAB having been disbanded and other attempts to replace it - such as a series of meetings with the club's content creators - having also fallen by the wayside, Brady revealed her big new project, the Official Supporters' Board, in 2018.

Designed as a successor to the SAB, the hand-picked, undemocratic construct purported to represent the entire fan base but in truth, represented barely any of it. And it didn't take long for most supporters to see the OSB for what it was - a toothless organisation designed to circumvent Premier League edicts regarding supporter consultation.

Despite democratic supporters groups such as WHUISA and Hammers United having refused to deal with the OSB or the club whilst it remains a going concern, Brady has thus far refused to disband it. In February 2020, plans to hold elections for membership were announced.


17. Green issues

In 2019, Brady quit as chair of Sir Philip Green’s retail empire Taveta Investments before facing questions over what she knew of alleged sexual and racial harassment by the disgraced business tycoon.

She resigned following mounting pressure to speak out against Green having previously stood by her long-term business associate, with whom she had been pictured at several social events - but has steadfastly refused to explain why she quit her lucrative role with the company, on whose board she had sat since 2010.

Brady's decision was criticised by many commentators, including Sunday Times writer Oliver Shah who accused her of "positioning herself as a role model for professional women while working for a man who is obviously a misogynist".

Prior to her eventual departure Brady routinely ignored calls to resign, stating "staying in the role and ensuring the company is robust going forward is much harder", whilst an aide added ""she felt a real sense of duty to the people who work there". Two weeks later, amidst growing pressure on both Green and herself, she finally resigned.


18. Drip drip

It has long been claimed that Brady and her fellow board members leak certain information that would paint them in a positive light to favoured media sources and blogs. Nothing unusual in that perhaps, but she crossed the line when going so far as to ban those who failed to tow the party line.

KUMB Editor Graeme Howlett was one of the first to feel the force of this North Korean-style policy when he was banned from attending media events at the club as a result of publishing what club lackey Ben Campbell referred to as "unnecessarily negative" content (such as this article, no doubt).

And in more recent times other rather more well-known journalists, such as The Telegraph's Matt Law, have been banned as a result of criticising their stewardship of West Ham, while others have been "taken to one side" and warned not to continue to publish critical commentary should they wish to retain their media privileges.


19. The Sky's the limit

West Ham fans' battle against the board had mostly been an in-house affair until recently, when the club's half-baked decision to threaten broadcasting giant Sky Sports - in which Brady is said to have played a leading role - made the fight national news in January 2020.

Having forced Sky to publish an almost humiliating apology on air following heavy criticism of the trio of directors in an episode of the broadcaster's Sunday Supplement, and then having subsequently banned one of the journalists involved, the entire fourth estate piled in on Brady, Sullivan and Gold.

Consequently the subsequent fans protests have received more air time and exposure than would've been the case had the board simply taken the criticism on the chin and vowed to react proactively, rather than with legal threats and draconian bans.


20. Banhammer

It's not just the media who have fallen foul of Brady's apparently thin skin. Fans who have dared to criticise the Baroness and her regime have pretty much all been dealt with in the same fashion - by being banned from the club.

One of the first supporters to feel the full force of the Brady banhammer was a fan who dared to raise a flag in December 2016 suggesting the club should 'sack Brady now' for 'ripping the heart and soul out of West Ham United'. When he refused to allow stewards to confiscate the flag, he was ejected from the ground before subsequently being told he was no longer welcome at home matches.

On this occasion - as has been the case more recently with Cameron Robson, the fan who was banned for wearing a t-shirt featuring the 'GBS Out' logo - the ban was short-lived, and overturned within a fortnight. Common sense presumably having prevailed. Meanwhile another fan who was falsely accused of persistently standing shortly after having a heart operation was similarly reinstated.

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