West Ham Asked to Pay for Increased Police Presence at London Stadium Following Crowd Trouble

TheLondon Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) have asked West Ham to pay for an increased police presence at games following a number of bouts of crowd trouble this season, according toreports.

Saturday's visit of Stoke City saw a much larger police and security presence, in orderto avoid the kind ofskirmishes that broke outduring West Ham's League Cup win over Chelsea.

Aside from a couple of aggrievedHammers supporters being ejected for 'persistent standing', the clash with the Potters went by for the most part without crowd trouble, much to the pleasure of CEO Karren Brady, who described it as a 'real result' in spite of the 1-1 draw.

West Ham pay the LLDC £2.5m per season for renting the London Stadium, and this fee was supposed to cover the cost of policing and stewarding, but now the LLDC have decided to hit West Ham with the bill for additional policing.

The crowd issues have also raised concerns from other clubs, who are worried about the prospect of travelling to the London Stadium to face West Ham this season.

The issues are expected to be raised by other clubs at next week's club summit, while West Ham claim that they have done everything to stamp out the issue, as reported inThe Daily Mail.

The Hammers next home game is against London rivals Arsenal at the start of December, before which a trip to White Hart Lane as well as two trips to Old Trafford also beckon.