Good evening.
Difficult to remember when the phrase, ‘You couldn’t make it up’ was more apt. The Sunday Times have pulled a rather grubby looking rabbit out of a hat here. A table creaking feast of story in today’s issue.
Here then are the facts as presented. Corporate investigators hired by Levy & Co believe they have discovered payments the most recent of which was £4,800 made in June into the back account of a woman called Dionne Knight. The payments came from an account operated by Naughty Knickers Of Newham Ltd T/A West Ham United Football Club.
Dionne Knight is the Director of Corporate Services at OPLC or Olympic Park Legacy Company.
Dionne is in a relationship with a man called Ian Tompkins. Ian is a Director of West Ham Football Club.
Doorstepped by The Sunday Times, Dionne claimed that the monies – which she did not dispute – were paid for ‘some consultancy work’ she had done for the Porn Barons.
Dionne also disclosed that Karren Brady #facelikeakickedinfridge was fully aware of her ‘consultancy work’ , but that Dionne had not made the OPLC aware of it.
The timeline for this work was that it began two months before the decision to award the Stadium to West Ham. The Sunday Times believes that the corporate detectives were engaged by Tottenham two days before the decision was announced. Readers with keen memories will recall that West Ham began celebrating their ‘win’ at least a day before the decision was formally announced.
On Friday both Ian Tompkins and Dionne Knight were suspended from their positions. Yesterday, a solicitor acting for Dionne revealed that her consultancy work was, ‘a procurement contract in relation to the Olympic Stadium.’ So just to clarify, the Bid Director of West Ham Football Club was sleeping with the Olympic Park Legacy Company’s Director of Corporate Services.
Now this next bit is good. Dionne didn’t tell the OPLC that she was receiving money from the Porn Barons, but she did tell them that she was receiving in a relationship with Ian. So the OPLC in their own words said, ‘ measures were taken to ensure she had no access to sensitive information.’
So there you have it. A sordid little tale that stinks to high heaven. The Barons, Tubby Baron & Taller Baron will have to think on their feet here. The OPLC’s Corporate Director, Dionne Knight was not only in a relationship with the Bidding Director of West Ham, but she was also employed by West Ham on a consultative basis.
I am no expert, but I would imagine that the sourcing of this information was absolutely in the public interest. Proof of this if you ever needed it – was that it was hushed up.
Hot off the press – Phil Mitchell is contemplating legal action against Harry Hotspur esq. over the suggestion that he is fat, ugly and odious enough to play Kazza Brady.
They are going to sue Spurs!?!? WTF are the grounds?!?
The ironic thing is that the more this whole stadium thing unravels, the more respect I’m gaining for Levy, who I’ve never been too bothered about either way. In terms of PR and strategy, he very much seems to like playing the long game, as opposed to the sleazy trolls at Jurassic Park who embarrass everyone concerned with their club every time they open their mouths.
This weekends HH blogs and the subsequent posts have been enlightening to say the least. Being a Finance person (or bean counter as were are affectionally known) myself, I have alway appreciated the way DL has run THFC PLC, in a well controlled manner. The decisions he makes may not always be the right ones but then that’s life, you choose your strategy, organise your resources and get on with it. What you can’t control is the external environment, like for example Man City being bought out by rich Arabs and buying a 4th place spot. Or perhaps the fact the Spurs ground is situated in one of the poorest places in the country (77% of it’s residents reliant on state benefit, compared with the national average of 1.5%). As I said this has been a weekend of revelations, and weather or not anything comes of it, what has been proved is that we have a strong leader at the helm of the good ship Spurs – I don’t think I really understood this until today.
You are right. You really could not make this up if you tried.
I would not be surprised if the Tevez affair and the FA’s benign treatment of West Ham did not surface again. It is a real tragedy Sheff Utd were demoted they were all dying for West Ham to have to visit there.
Someone should make a film of this sorry saga.
I vote for a cartoon strip drawn by R. Crumb.