The Olympic Park Legacy Company have now decided the stadium will remain in public ownership and be leased to a new anchor tenant for an annual rent.

West Ham have confirmed they will be bidding to be the tenant.

The club’s deal to own the stadium died following legal challenges from rivals Spurs and Leyton Orient amid complaints about the procurement process.

The new tender process for an anchor tenant will be launched this week and £35m of public cash has been set aside to convert the stadium.

West Ham had planned to spend £100m on converting the stadium.

Karren Brady, Vice-Chairman of West Ham United, and Kim Bromley-Derry, Chief Executive of the London Borough of Newham said: “Uncertainty caused by the anonymous complaint to the European Commission and ongoing legal challenges have put the Olympic legacy at risk and certainly a stadium, as we envisioned it, may not be in place by 2014 due as a direct result of the legal delay.

“Therefore we would welcome a move by OPLC and government to end that uncertainty and allow a football and athletics stadium to be in place by 2014 under a new process.

“If the speculation is true, West Ham will look to become a tenant of the stadium while Newham will aim to help deliver the legacy.

“Our bid is the only one that will secure the sporting and community legacy promise of the Olympic Stadium – an amazing year-round home for football, athletics and community events of which the nation could be proud.

“The true legacy of London 2012 will be the creation of jobs and a generation of young people inspired by sport based around a community home for all by 2014. We remain committed to help deliver that legacy promise to the people of London and the nation.”