A 'trailblazer' who 'polarised opinion'

[PA Media]

Baroness Karren Brady has long been seen as a leading woman in football, a trailblazer who others followed, but many West Ham fans see her as one of the main figures responsible for taking the club away from its roots, relocating to a hated athletics stadium and landing the club in its present state.

One of the most significant figures in the game, Brady has polarised opinion, never frightened to voice a view, no matter how controversial, and even using the House of Lords as a platform to voice the Premier League's opposition to the football regulator.

Yet for all her forceful and powerful personality, at West Ham she will forever be known as the third member of the trio responsible for moving the club out of their beloved, but antiquated, Boleyn Ground and into London Stadium.

With current majority owner David Sullivan and long-time business partner David Gold, who died in January 2023, Brady helped negotiate a hugely favourable deal to move into the Olympic Stadium in 2016.

The plan was to turn West Ham into an elite club and regular European contenders. It did not turn out the way envisaged.

Many long-time fans were against the move in the first place. The distance from the pitch to the stands and a lack of atmosphere, created in part by below-par performances, only widened the disconnect.

Sullivan, Gold and Brady were subjected to venomous abuse, which continues and is partly responsible for her decision to leave with immediate effect as the club battles to avoid relegation.

There were positives.

The 2023 Conference League final win against Fiorentina in Prague will go down as one of the best nights in West Ham's history - part of a run of three successive European campaigns, something the club had never done before.

West Ham have also been in the Premier League since 2012 - and are bidding to extend their longest consecutive run of top-flight seasons since the 1960s, when World Cup heroes Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst were in their pomp.

The 'Moore, Peters, Hurst' statue outside London Stadium is significant, as are aesthetic changes, like the maroon carpet behind the goal, which at least helps to create a sense of 'West Ham' at the ground.