West Ham bid to change colour around the pitch to claret to help players see the touchline

West Ham say they have run into a brick wall in their efforts to add to the colour of match day at the London Stadium by painting part of the pitch surround a different colour from green.

Slaven Bilic, West Ham’s manager, writes in his exclusive column in the Evening Standard that his players would benefit from having the area surrounding the pitch painted claret, part of the club colours, with the club prepared to pay the estimated cost of £200,000.

"We have a great stadium but we want to improve it even more though, to make it like, for example, the Parc des Princes, home of Paris Saint-Germain," writes Bilic.

"If you look at their stadium, they have changed the colour of the area around their pitch to blue. We want to do something similar and change to a darker colour - claret.

"Let me explain it like this. It is impossible to bring the crowd closer but we can improve things by changing the perspective.

"Imagine you are a player, you are running back to defend or you are joining the attack – you look up and it is not easy, because everything is green ahead of you, to appreciate exactly where is the end of the pitch and that can psychologically affect your willingness to do it.

"We have done everything we can to receive permission to do this, especially our vice chairman Karren Brady. I am mentioning it almost every time I meet her.

"I know Karren has tried very hard and talked to all of the parties involved but we can’t seem the get the necessary permission from the powers that be. It’s not clear to me why but I believe it would make a big difference, so I am hoping approval will be given soon.

"We have even offered to pay for the work which, so I understand, would cost around £200,000."

However, an E20 spokesperson said: "E20 and West Ham have been jointly working on the installation of a blue pitch surround.

"This would be appropriate for both West Ham games and other London Stadium events.

"This colour also met the club’s requirement to help their players distinguish the playing area from the pitch surround.

"West Ham have recently informed us that they no longer wish to pursue this solution.

"E20 remain happy to explore options for a new surround that meet the multi-use nature of the London Stadium and look forward to hearing more from the club."