Baroness Brady CBE celebrates International Women’s Day with a special message to West Ham United supporters
Vice-Chairman Baroness Brady CBE celebrates International Women’s Day with a special message to West Ham United supporters
It is a fantastically exciting time to be writing to you as Vice-Chairman of West Ham United Football Club.
The team are marking our historic Farewell Boleyn season by flying high in the Barclays Premier League and mounting a serious challenge for the Emirates FA Cup, while work on our stunning new home in Stratford continues to progress superbly with each day bringing yet more excitement as it moves closer to becoming a truly world-class football stadium.
Today is International Women’s Day and I am proud and honoured to continue to champion the role of women in business and women in football.
It is incredible to think that it is 23 years since I arrived for work on my first day at Birmingham City at the age of 23.
My life as a female football club Chief Executive, and now Vice-Chairman, has changed markedly since I entered football in 1993 and, while there is still some way to go, the issues I encountered on an almost daily basis two decades ago are mercifully on the decline.
I am proud to be one of three female CEOs in the top two divisions of English football.
I am even prouder of the number of women who now hold senior management positions here at West Ham United.
I have recently championed and appointed Tara Warren to my Board, brought in Felicity Croft as my Commercial Director, Michele Gull to lead our Human Resources department and promoted Kerry Patterson as joint Head of Retail in such a critical transitional time for the business.
I have always been committed to giving women an opportunity to play a leading role in football – a business which had traditionally been male-dominated – and, as we continue to grow and expand our Football Club into a truly worldwide brand, I can only foresee more senior positions being taken by intelligent, driven and able women in the future.
To mark International Women’s Day, I am delighted that our own West Ham Ladies will be playing their first competitive match at the Boleyn Ground this evening.
We are expecting a record-breaking crowd to attend the game against Tottenham Hotspur Ladies, so please do come along and lend your support.
So, as today marks International Women’s Day, and I reflect on my 23 years in football I can honestly say I am as excited as I have ever been and I hope you all are too
Looking to the future, the Club is in a far better position than it was when we arrived a little more than six years ago.
The Joint-Chairmen have pulled the Club back from the brink of the financial abyss, the inherited debt is falling and, with the team assured of its Barclays Premier League position next season, we will continue to benefit from increased broadcast revenue.
We have already sold more Season Tickets for the first season at our new home than there are seats in the Boleyn Ground and the Board are currently doing everything we can to expand the capacity of the new Stadium to 60,000 to cater for the unprecedented demand.
You may well have seen that a number of our first team players recently bolted in the first claret seats and my New Stadium team are continuing to work 24/7 to ensure it is a fitting home for West Ham United with many more exciting announcements to follow soon.
Before then, we have our final five home league matches at the Boleyn Ground to play and they promise to be, in Slaven Bilic’s words, ‘five cup finals’!
Such is demand for seats that Academy Membership is needed to be placed in a ballot for tickets for these final three home games at the Boleyn Ground.
I am not surprised, because the appointment of Slaven, and the signings he and the Board have made, has reinvigorated the whole Club – the ‘West Ham way’ is definitely back!
We are playing great football, winning lots of matches and our best players are being rewarded with new contracts – we are no longer a selling club, that’s for sure.
So, as today marks International Women’s Day, and I reflect on my 23 years in football I can honestly say I am as excited as I have ever been and I hope you all are too. Thank you all for your amazing and unrivalled support.
Baroness Brady CBE
Vice-Chairman
The Joint-Chairmen have pulled the Club back from the brink of the financial abyss, the inherited debt is falling and, with the team assured of its Barclays Premier League position next season, we will continue to benefit from increased broadcast revenue.
We have already sold more Season Tickets for the first season at our new home than there are seats in the Boleyn Ground and the Board are currently doing everything we can to expand the capacity of the new Stadium to 60,000 to cater for the unprecedented demand.
You may well have seen that a number of our first team players recently bolted in the first claret seats and my New Stadium team are continuing to work 24/7 to ensure it is a fitting home for West Ham United with many more exciting announcements to follow soon.
Before then, we have our final five home league matches at the Boleyn Ground to play and they promise to be, in Slaven Bilic’s words, ‘five cup finals’!
Such is demand for seats that Academy Membership is needed to be placed in a ballot for tickets for these final three home games at the Boleyn Ground.
I am not surprised, because the appointment of Slaven, and the signings he and the Board have made, has reinvigorated the whole Club – the ‘West Ham way’ is definitely back!
We are playing great football, winning lots of matches and our best players are being rewarded with new contracts – we are no longer a selling club, that’s for sure.
So, as today marks International Women’s Day, and I reflect on my 23 years in football I can honestly say I am as excited as I have ever been and I hope you all are too. Thank you all for your amazing and unrivalled support.
Baroness Brady CBE
Vice-Chairman