West Ham Vice-Chair Karren Brady was verbally abused by fans "as part of the angry clashes during the defeat to Watford" that have prompted her to "demand police are deployed inside the club’s new London Stadium for future games," according to Law & Burt of the London TELEGRAPH. West Ham’s move to the new stadium "has been marred by in-fighting between the club’s supporters, insufficient segregation between home and away fans and complaints over the stewarding." Brady will meet with the operators of the London Stadium, LS185, on Tuesday with both parties "ready to agree to deploy police inside the ground for all forthcoming games," subject to approval from the Metropolitan Police Service. Brady will push for a "radical reform of the stewarding" inside the London Stadium and could suggest "new, more experienced stewards are brought in," despite the fact LS185 believes the level of criticism "has been unfair." One of the sons of West Ham co-Owner David Sullivan tweeted that an "unnamed board member was spat at and others verbally abused during the 4-2 defeat to Watford while stewards stood by and did nothing." Sources claimed Brady "was the board member who was spat at, something the 47-year-old denies." She was, however, among those verbally abused during the "ugly scenes." A statement from LS185 said, "London Stadium have identified a number of supporters involved in incidents of disorder during Saturday's Premier League match between West Ham United and Watford. Our stewards and response teams were called to address isolated instances of violent confrontation which resulted in 10 supporters being ejected from the stadium and three handed to police. ... As part of our review process, we will be taking steps to strengthen the segregation measures between home and away supporters" (TELEGRAPH, 9/12). REUTERS' Ian Rodricks reported the FA has started an "investigation into the trouble, while West Ham have demanded that E20, the stadium owners, guarantee a police presence at the ground" for its games. Graeme Howlett, a member of a West Ham fan group, "has asked the club to act immediately to resolve segregation issues at the stadium." Howlett: "The way it's going, someone is going to end up seriously hurt. It's dangerous. We've got so many accounts of fans trading blows, people having to dive on their kids to protect them" (REUTERS, 9/13).
