Slaven Bilic says he told West Ham United vice-president Karren Brady not to make Rush Green look like a five-star hotel

Bilic
Bilic

Many West Ham United fans understood exactly what Arsene Wenger meant when he said Arsenal left their soul at Highbury.

The Emirates Stadium has been the Gunners’ home for a while now, but the Frenchman believes their old stomping ground had the better atmosphere.

West Ham faithful miss Upton Park, and moving to the London Stadium hasn’t helped improve the club’s fortunes on the pitch.

The Hammers also left Chadwell Heath a couple of years ago for a new training ground.

Rush Green has been constantly ridiculed by supporters, but there has been some major upgrades of recent.

Former West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has revealed that he constantly told vice-president Karren Brady not to make Rush Green look like a five-star hotel, though.

“It’s not an excuse but if you ask me what was it better to play at Upton Park or not then there’s no discussion. It was more home, it was more hostile. Not one opposition player enjoyed it when they had to go to Upton Park! That’s a fact,” the former West Ham boss told The Telegraph.

“The Olympic Stadium is very different for an away team. You enjoy it more. It’s not that you were afraid for your life at Upton Park, but everything was there!

“To be fair, I prefer this. This being West Brom. This office. This training ground. The stadium. I love the smell of grass. I was very much involved in with Rush Green with Karren Brady and I was always saying: ‘Don’t make it a five-star hotel. This is a training ground’.”

While West Ham have since invested in Rush Green, it still isn’t up to the standard of most Premier League training grounds, and the current board don’t seem to be getting anything right.

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