Hammers fight back over Hearn stadium claim

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Hearn, who said the League One club will, like West Ham, tender for the lease of the stadium, had accused West Ham's vice-chair of being "patronising" and having a "lack of knowledge".

He has also contended that Football League rules would prohibit West Ham moving nearer to Brisbane Road. "The rules are that the Football League would not sanction a club moving closer to another club if it affects the business of that other club and there's no doubt West Ham moving there would affect us," he said.

While not replying directly to Hearn's comments, West Ham's statement says the club "have the right permissions from the game's governing bodies to tender again."

The statement also says that the club "remain committed to east London and believe we are the right choice. In contrast, back in May 2009, our neighbours, Leyton Orient, were looking at a move away to Harlow or Basildon.

"The Olympic Stadium is in Newham and Leyton Orient is in Waltham Forest. We will not move away from Newham, after all it is our home borough."

West Ham said they would "continue to press ahead with our legacy proposals" and added: "We have always focused on our legacy plan for the stadium and in turn the East End and London as a whole. We know we can make the Olympic Stadium work for the capacity required for a successful staging of major sporting events like the 2017 World Athletics Championships.

"We are confident we have a revenue model and ability to generate the income that will make the stadium legacy a success."

The Olympic Park Legacy Company have said that they will announce the identity of the preferred bidder in January but Hearn says that is impossible. The Football League have confirmed receipt of Orient's application and a spokesman said the documents had been handed to League chairman Greg Clarke at the weekend.