POSTED: February 18th 2011
NewsUpdate
Leyton Orient owner to fight on against Olympic Stadium decision
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT / Sports Features Communications
LONDON, Feb 17: Barry Hearn, the sports promoter chairman of Leyton Orient, intends to maintain his fight against the decision which all but confirms West Ham's aim of taking over the Olympic Stadium after the London 2012 Games.
Hearn is threatening to seek a judicial review after the Olympic Park Legacy Company decided that West Ham was its 'preferred bidder' for the stadium rather than Tottenham. His argument is more with the Premier League than with the OPLC.
He said: "The rules of the Premier League, to my untrained legal eyes, are very black and white. They say they will not grant consent for a club to move grounds if it would adversely effect clubs who have their registered ground in the immediate vicinity.
"Leyton Orient has been in existence for 130 years and to have a giant like West Ham on our doorstep offering discounted and free tickets would seriously bring into question the survival of Leyton Orient."
Hearn is also pressing his complaint with Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, and Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and Olympics, joining Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson.
He added: "Judicial review is something no-one wants to get involved in because these things can go on for years and years and years and while they are everything else is frozen. It's a threatening tool, a wake-up call to say: 'Have you gone through the correct process?'"
Keywords · London 2012 · Olympic Stadium · West Ham · Leyton Orient · Hearn
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