West Ham Joint Chairman was asked to define what the next level is for West Ham on the back of promises back by the board that the move to the London Stadium would help us move to the next level and the original seven-year plan for Champions League football;.
Speaking to Claret and Hugh Associate Editor Sean Whetstone on the MooreThanJustAPodcast Hammers podcast Gold said:“To me it is growth, to me, it is forever improving, we are going forward and the best and easy way to do that is to say where did we finish up in the league or did we win or how far did we get in the cup. What we mean by the next level is that we want to be challenging at the highest level, nobody knows where that is, it is a moving item, we want to do better, we want to challenge at the highest level. West Ham United has been the fourth largest football club in London and it has been like that since I was a boy, go back 50 years, I remember when we had a lengthy period in the fifties in the old second division, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, they were much bigger clubs than us, they were all in the so-called first division which is now the Premier League.”
“West Ham as long as you can remember have been the fourth largest (in London) we have to break that mould, we have got to challenge, we have to get closer to them and I think that is what we are doing. Part of that is going to the Olympic Stadium, bringing the (new) fans, we always believed the fans were there.”
“The most important thing for me to say is my love of Upton Park, it has been my life since a young man, right from the age of 7 right the way through, it’s a long time. I loved Upton Park, it was just across the road from where I lived as a young boy so the last thing I wanted to do is leave Upton Park but we want to challenge at the highest level if you keep on doing the same thing and expect the same result you are mad.”
Asked on David Sullivan’s comments of the ambitious plan of Champions League football within seven years of taking over West Ham in 2010 Gold said:
“That only shows his enthusiasm and his optimism, the fact that we have not achieved that will obviously be held against us but that doesn’t alter the fact that’s our belief and our desire and our passion to get to the Champions league, our passion to go to finals in the FA cup and the league Cup, that is what we want to do and maybe sometimes we are over-optimistic but that doesn’t alter our desire and passion to achieve these things. It is there for all to see!”
You can listen to part one of the Exclusive David Gold Interview at Moorethanjustapdocast.co.uk
Part two of the Interview will be published next week
You move forward by investing in players like carvalho !!
I’m convinced now he hasn’t a clue about football !!! Its was just waffle IMO !!
You move up leagues by investing in top players ! Not players like noble, fonte, masuaku , ayew, Snodgrass , and ageing has been,s , you add quality to the quality we have to move forward ! That was a brand man talking !!
IMO
Completely agree, to move forward all our activity has to be centred on two things, making the club attractive to players by having a plan that all is geared to delivering which sees us not only investing in players but better players each time we replace. if we get Carvalho then we can say this will be the first season in many where that has been the case.
We will still be the fourth biggest club in London if they don’t raise the capacity to 66000 or more because Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal will have greater capacity never mind their CL and Europa League revenues.
I read an article this morning by Stewart Robson who said the way West Ham was run in his day was unprofessionally, he came from a very professional Arsenal to West Ham where the players were running the club and he says he doesn’t think much has changed and I would be inclined to agree with him, winning teams have a mentality which is ground into them on the training ground, every part of what they do is geared to being the best when they walk out on the part, that means they focus on all the small details, like diet and rest, tactics for each player they might face, they train specifically and they don’t need to be motivated to do it they know that is what it takes to be the best, I hope with Zaba, Hart and Hernandez they will drill that into the players if Slav cannot, in fairness to the chairmen if you look at the people they have appointed from other successful premier league clubs they are putting the foundations in place, I believe Slav wants the players to act professionally like winners, the trouble is that most of them have no history of that so I think the pressure must come from their team mates to up their levels. I also agree that signing World Class players like Carvalho is the way forward, apparently his salary demands were relatively modest so it seems like a win / win to sign him. One way or another the club has to find a way to get that transfer over the line, he is young enough and good enough that we shouldn’t lose money on him as part of the contract just put a buy out clause of three times the value we pay for him. To us he would be worth his weight in gold.
Leaving Upton Park was the last thing he wanted to do !!!! But he did it anyway .
I’ve not met one West Ham fan who doesn’t miss Upton Park ..or one who says he loves the Olympic stadium ….
If only I could make friends and influence a Quatari multi billionaire I’d buy WHU .. buyout our remaining rent on our fishbowl of a stadium.. buy out the developers who are building on our beloved home .. then rebuild Upton Park .. I’m just not buying it that developing Upton Park wasn’t a possibility .
West Ham’s short passing and running into space game fitted so well at Upton Park .. but now we are having to change our style of play to suit the Olympic pitch !! We are losing (have lost ) our identity .. away teams are not intimidated playing at the Fishbowl …
How do we make the club attractive to top draw players? We have won sfa for 35 yrs, finished 11th & lost to a muppet team in the EL 2 yrs running. It is a hard sell to these players. You can’t just click your fingers & expect players to sign. On paper the 4 signings we made this summer shoud help move us in the right direction but their quality should have stopped us getting our yearly spanking at manure. Carvalho signing would give us a fairly strong backbone, something we have been missing for so many years & a balance to the side. Has Bilic got what it takes to get the best out of these players? We will see, if not he will be gone by xmas. I love the guy & hope he will show us how good a coach he can be.
So today i have read Noble get slaughtered.Fonte get it in the neck with Reid as well.Now its Golds turn.
Do you lot ever let up.Sorry but every day is the same its like a load of pantomime dames on our websites most the time.
Because its true !! Crying out loud think football not posts ffs there’s always someone lately whinging about the whingers or peoples honest thoughts about an issue , talk football mate stop being a luvvie lol.put you’re point of view and don’t worry about others views 😉