West Ham’s vice-chair, Karren Brady, has defended the club’s controversial move to the London Stadium, insisting the shift from Upton Park had been a success and was a crucial part of “rebranding” the club.

Speaking at a sports business conference, Brady launched a trenchant defence of the route taken by David Gold and David Sullivan since they bought the club in 2010 in the face of criticism from some supporters over their move to the £701m former Olympic Stadium.

“The Olympic Stadium had been built less than, sort of, a mile away from us [sic] and we saw that as a real opportunity to change the brand values of the club. There was a plan to plug the debt, build the future and create the culture,” she said.

“Rebranding ourselves was really important with our stadium. We’re in the London Stadium. We added the word London to our crest because we felt it had real global appeal. Nobody else does it. We are in the heart of London, in the foothills of the financial sector. We have the best stadium – there are some great stadiums in this country but there is only one Olympic Stadium and it’s ours. It’s really had a dynamic impact on the things we can do.”

She also pointed to the figures to show that the move had been popular with fans, despite some recent complaints over the way it has been handled.

“We had a difficult job to do when we were moving to a new stadium. We sold the stadium out to 52,000 season-ticket holders,” Brady said. “We have 10,000 under-16-year-olds who come week in, week out. We have completely sold out hospitality. I have 50,000 people who have paid to join the waiting list to be able to buy a season ticket. We have 36,000 members.”

West Ham’s move to the London Stadium had been well received by fans, Karren Brady told the Leaders Sports Business Summit. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

She said that when Gold and Sullivan bought the club it was necessary to reduce their debt and overhaul “their culture”.

“There were two interesting things about it. One, it had £100m worth of debt. Two, it had no what I would call culture. At football clubs we don’t make anything, we don’t manufacture anything, we don’t really produce anything other than more players,” she told the Leaders Sports Business Summit. “So getting the culture right, being a place where something is expected of you, having discipline, planning and process and strategy. That wasn’t there.”

Brady insisted the fans remained at the heart of what the club was attempting to do. “If you’re always driven by money, you lose your traditional values and what you’re there for,” she said. “The stadium and the league are not what makes a club. It’s the people who support it. Protecting their traditions and their values and their integrity in their own brand is very important.”

Brady said in the Olympic Stadium, towards which West Ham paid £15m of the £272m conversion costs plus £2.5m in annual rent, they saw an opportunity to rebrand the club. “We have this great stadium and much better prospects and facilities than in our old stadium but we charge a lower price. We offer a more dynamic product at an inferior price. It’s been so well received and it comes back to our values and our culture.”

But the move has also been marked by unrest in the stands – with supporters complaining of inadequate stewarding, a lacklustre atmosphere and problems with the relocation of like-minded fans to sit next to one another – plus poor results.

Following a convoluted process West Ham were given a 99-year lease to become the stadium’s anchor tenant. The vehicle set up by the London Legacy Development Corporation and Newham Council to own the stadium is responsible for matchday costs and stewarding.

In the face of criticism from some fans Brady defended the progress made by the club since she was employed by Gold and Sullivan. “We are in the Olympic Stadium, we have limited outside debt and we are ranked 15th in terms of brand values. We were 115th when I joined the club. We’re now 20th in the Deloitte Money League,” she said. “We have got the largest amount of season-ticket holders of any London club and the capacity will be increasing to 66,000. We feel we’ve set out our goals and achieved them.”

Improbably, given the furore and discord that have marked the move, Brady also revealed the club were planning a feature film called Iron Men, following the journey of a group of fans from Upton Park to the London Stadium. “We’re making a movie called Iron Men. It’s about the transition of the values and the history of West Ham supporters from the Boleyn Ground to the London Stadium,” she said.