David Gold says West Ham owners deserve credit for keeping them up

Sullivan, Gold and Brady agree to answer fans’ questions, but protest groups object to presence of controversial Official Supporters’ Board

David Gold has declined to rule out selling West Ham United but risked more wrath from supporters by suggesting he and co-owner David Sullivan deserved credit for keeping them in the Premier League.

Gold launched an impassioned defence of their record after he, Sullivan and vice-chairman Karren Brady were accused of ignoring protests, despite arranging to meet supporters this month.

Speaking after a meeting of club executives in central London, Gold pointed out that throughout his younger life “all I remember is a football club in the old second division”. “We’ve now got a stadium which holds 60,000 from one which held 35,000,” he said of the move to the London Stadium.

“OK, we do understand that there have been difficulties with the stadium, but you’ve only got to go back and look at what you had at West Ham. When I was a boy as a fan, all my young life it was in the old second division. At least it’s in the Premier League now. OK, we’ve got a few problems now, but overall we’re moving upwards.”

Fan anger, he insisted, “depends on who you speak to”.

“I spoke to a cab driver who drove me yesterday and we had half an hour talking and he was thrilled with the stadium,” he said. “His kids love it – he was telling me the story about his day when he goes to a match. That’s fantastic.”