David Gold was surrounded by so called Hammers fans as his car attempted to leave Wales yesterday after the 4-1 defeat by Swansea.
For the second time in a few weeks he was abused and sworn at by a group of fans whose car had stopped in front of his when he chose to get out and try to hold a conversation with them.
Here’s some random views from followers of the ClaretandHugh Facebook Group on what they thought of the incident
O So disrespectful and ashamed to be associated with the likes of these people. Not the West Ham way.
O I didn’t think we could sink any lower -at least a couple stood up for him and he is okay
O Lost for words
O Disgraceful
O Try that against Abramovich or Usmanov and you’ll find yourself buried under the bridge. You can criticise, or protest. But that is the lowest low. Our owners not criminals, they don’t deserve such abuse.
O Totally out of order, would not be surprised if DG decides enough is enough.
O Think DG is thick skinned enough to cope with idiots like that.
O The man needs to review his security. Not the first time this has happened would be concerned ,as everyone points out he is a man in his eighties – needs to be kept away from thugs
O The man deserves respect
O I feel ashamed of that. At what point did the older generation stop being everyones ‘Grandad and Nan’ ?
O Praise to Gold for getting out and trying to have a discourse but In future I would advise him to stay in his car
O We have some really really stupid idiots following our club
O I’m actually ashamed to call myself a Hammers fan in this current climate.
O I’m no fan of the board especially Sullivan and Brady but would never stoop that low.
Never have I ever felt so ashamed to be a West Ham fan. It’s absolutely disgraceful what happened yesterday and it’s not the first time it’s happened either. It’s scenes like that which are making this great club a very unattractable proposition for a potential buyers and players. It’s also scenes like that which are running this club to the ground. This club is in a ver dark place at the moment and scenes like this aren’t helping. I understand we are all passionate about the club but what’s scenes like that gonna do? Never should a chairman have to deal with that sort of behaviour and especially a man who is in his 80s. We should all be getting behind the players, the manager and the board. They want to get out of this place just as much as you whether you believe that or not.
I understand and I’m just as unhappy as those fans who feel like they sold us a dream and made promises that have not been met. But fans need to realise the Boleyn is never coming back and we gonna have to get on with this new stadium whether we like it or not. Never will this stadium ever come close to the Boleyn I know that but this is only our 2nd season in the stadium, how long did it take arsenal to get use to the emirates? I don’t thibk there has been a club which has hit the ground running straight away after moving to a new stadium. I agree they shouldn’t have said a couple of things such as it’s gonna take the club to the next level as it’s not guaranteed. But who knows it possible could, it takes a lot longer than 1 season to move to that next level it in fact takes a couple of seasons. With the extra money the stadium is bringing in it can only help in the long run.
A lot of fans are unhappy with the transfers and believe the club have not spent but let’s be honest how do I know? How do you know? Whether the club has or not. We don’t know the final transfer fee, we don’t know how much they earn in wages, we don’t know how much we pay in agent fees. Yes people think the club have got a very low net spent but you forget about pay rises, contract bonuses etc. The club has to be abide by financial fair play rules which puts a cap on what clubs can spend on transfer and wages. Also to buy players the club has to sell plates and the club is over loaded in all positions other than wingers. Whether all these players are good enough or not, let’s just get this season over with and see what the summer brings. We’ve a few players on there way and already gone the club a nice little sum to spend on players and their wages.
Rant over and now lets all get together and get behind our wonderful club COYI!
I agree that this close to riot situations are not good and that personal abuse on Gold is not right. That said, the truth is that we have been interested (according to media) in many different players over the past 5 years, most of them saying they were not interested (Batshusayi, Long, Cline, Ki and many more I cannot remember now). So it is either the project they find unattractive, or the management/ownership they do not like. That is what probably has to change. The way the club is being handled right now makes me think of a Russian roulette. Trying to get to the finish line with the bare minimum, and then “we will see”. Was Fonte’s sale a good deal ? Maybe because he wanted minutes on the pitch he wasn’t getting, maybe because in 6 months we would have got less money for him than now, but look at the situation : Ginge closer to the end of his career than anything else (and injury prone), Rice not quite ready, Reid out for who knows how long and no longer reliable, Oxford and Reece sent back out on loan (what happened to Oxford who liked like the real deal two seasons ago?). That leaves Ogbonna, and if the is out, we have no central defence. In that perspective, Fonte’s departure is really a bad decision.
Another thing that strikes me is the repeated situation where Ex-West ham players seem so motivated in playing the match of their life or scoring the goal of the season against us. Why that super motivation ? Look at the Ayews yesterday. Andre was specially motivated, rallying the crowd over and over, fighting for every ball, getting a penalty (out of cleverness, knowing Kouyate would not see him coming from behind), and also getting in a fight with Noble and others. His brother was also over aggressive, committing several fouls deserving a yellow, (with one borderline straight red). Why was that happening ?
Lots of questions and facts that need to be explained, and a situation which seems to be a repeat, thus a habit, proof of a deeper illness.
Is it me or is it a fact that certain new be posters turn up when the board are being challenged who lack no insight and launch attack that arent justified with the obvious reasons that are out there in abundance ! The board do not want this march to go ahead and are IMO trying to discredit it any way they can ! I mean to slate their own players with verbal diahorea which goes under the radar to the board brown nosers means were just a piece of cake ? There was no sickening abuse apart from a few swear words ? Shock / awe !!Why did he get out ? To shake the hands of a few disgruntled supporters !
More fool him getting out ! The driver should have gone round the car !
This is so Ott its a joke ! The whole thing stinks for me , im an 82 year old man just don’t wash ! No faces on the video ? The whole thing looks like a set up ! Right or wrong it wasn’t sickening ! Its boardettes with a grudge wearing beards that think so !!
Next week can’t come quick enough !! For me and many others ! Trying to turn the tables is the sickening thing that going on !!
For all those making statements about what is the march for ! Shows you haven’t a clue !!
Like it or lump it we march 😠
I would assume that the ‘new posters’ are those that usually read but don’t contribute ie the overwhelming silent majority.
Right Lazarus that is more than enough. This comment goes way beyond what we as an admin team believe are the bounds of common decency. For several weeks we have been watching the comments here and this is way over the top. Ok you are anti board but describe him as being a fool and even dare to suggest this is a set up because of your prejudices is bang out of order. Newbies as you call them are as important as you. You want to march go and march. But to abuse others and spew your hatred is not gonna work anymore. It’s either a case of closing down this ‘Leave a comment’ facility or binning you. WE have chosen the latter. However, others need to realise that Lazarus is not alone in spewing out stuff. On the FB site we have a no abuse and no swearing policy and that by and large is the reason for it’s success. If personal abuse and swearing abbreviated or otherwise continues this ‘Leave a Comment’ facility will be closed.
Nicely put my son sensibly too on what happened and once again ,another another season season of another season of lies three too many seasons of lies. Problem is we have good businessmen and a tory woman good at doing the business of porn and garbage at football club level of running a proper club. The answer is please sell up to people and there are many who will buy our club and run It properly making the right choices. By the way doesn’t help when you don’t know that the obscene money now in football clubs are meant to be used for the club’s prosperity and not put in your sky for a rainy day with cheap loans and past it players.
Some of our supporters ( or is it followers ) these days are so very brave.
I suppose they are also brave enough to march along with a sort of flag.
Are they random views or ones you (or the board) personally selected?
If being 82 years old is ok to destroy a club and drain money out of it then it’s ok to get grief when people are fed up with it, If it’s too much to put up with when you’re 82 then leave, unless you’re gaining too much money from it of course then put up with it.
Nobody disputes the board have made errors and nobody here has ever said anything different as demonstrated by many personal blogs. The sort of nonsense spouted by HBHammer has now finalised the decision to introduce moderation on all comments as is the case on all other decent sites. So thanks for helping HB. Everything here is off topic. It’s about whether people should get out of a car on the highway and throw abuse at an 82 year old whoever he may be..Nothing else
By moderation you mean deleting replies that dont agree with your opinion?
PATHETIC
Perhaps you should be more broad minded when reading replies. However, you too appear to want to argue. If you don’t like the answers fine. I don’t need this crap in my life. Perhaps you do
I must admit Inthink you have overreacted Hugh in banning Lazarus, he hasn’t sworn and has voiced an opinion that shows how much there is a divide between the board and a growing number of fans and it is getting bigger. A fool is someone who continues to act in a foolish manner and I for one believe the board have been the very epitomy of fools in how they have acted, especially in the transfer market, for the whole of their tenure and we are, in the main, in the spot of trouble we are in because of their poor and inadequate investment in the team. I am not big on conspiracy theories but not sure why Lazarus’ view of a possible one has him banned. Censor abuse but not the right to an opinion.
Thanks for your help in guiding me JMan but I find that to defend the actions of people who accost 82 year olds or anyone else on a public highway – whoever they may be – unacceptable. To describe him then as a fool” to get out of his car when he was showing an acceptance and readiness to talk to them entirely unacceptable. As pointed out in the initial response, this was not an isolated example. And some comments have had to be binned because of their content in the past. We are not talking about the transfer market here – that was not the issue. It has been discussed a million times
Great reply jman spot on my son see I remember you from claret blue. Hope your well and coyi
By the way I would not have confronted Gold in the manner done yesterday, you lose the moral high ground and argument when you do that as the focus is on the confrontation and not why there is the discontent that has lead to it.
West Ham fans used to have a reputation for being hard as nails.
It’s embarrassing that so many West Ham fans do nothing, absolutely nothing, but whine like old women nowadays. Utterly embarrassing and the media and other fans lap up every bit of the pointless fuss these people are making.
Some are also clearly happy to accost the senior citizens who have put so much of their money, time and energy trying to move the club forward.
Fair enough if people don’t agree with the decisions they make or get a bit upset if they get things wrong. But the level of discontent shown to DG & DS is beyond acceptable and the behaviour of these serial moaners is worthy of all the ridicule that it’s getting from other West Ham fans.
They could try being ‘united’ behind the team like our name specifies, instead of sowing division and discontent. But no, there moaning means too much to them. If the team and the manager are distracted next week against Burnley, and we lose, the professional whingers brigade will have played their part in the team dropping points, and will no doubt ignore the fact that their endless malcontent is leading to disarray on the pitch. They use it to fuel more of their favourite pastime – whining. Sad. What happened to hard as nails West Ham? Everyone is laughing at us because of this stupidity.
Cannot agree with you at all Marty. A lot of these fans have poured a lot of money and time in to the club and are seeing very little return and promise after promise broken. Get behind the team yes but be in no doubt that most of the ills stem from how the club is being run, the failure and lack of substantial net investment and that buck stops with the board. Tell me what is the one constant in all the managers that have come and gone since GandS took over? GandS themselves. They made sure we didn’t go in to administration but it has been one failure after another to deliver what has been promised and so publicly vocalised by the board!!
Matty not Marty, apologies!!
Do some fans not remember where we were before the David’s? We were down in the gutters when they came in which led to us getting relegated to the championship and milllions in debt. If it wasn’t for the David’s where would we be? We should be thankful for what they’ve done. We are in a far better position now than we were when they came along.
It’s not all been bad under their stewardship we got promoted via play offs at first time of asking, we had a great first season back in the premier league, we’ve had a few good cup runs to quarters and we had an amazing last season at the Boleyn which led to us getting into Europe.
Where was the moaning and board out posts during these times? It’s all started because of a few broken promises, the changing of the badge and moving from the beloved Boleyn.
I agree they’re not perfect but what board are?
They’re trying there best to get us to that hopeful ‘next level’ that has been spoken about.
They’ve admitted they were wrong and have owned up and apologised for broken promises that have been made. No one is perfect and is it such a bad thing that they’ve been a bit too ambitious with things they’ve said? It’s better than just being happy to be a middle of the road club that is up and down. We should be happy that we’ve actually got a board that are trying to improve.
They’re doing what they feel is gonna help West Ham. I’m a season ticket holder and I’ve not missed a league game at the London stadium and I’m still not too keen on the London stadium and I know not many if any are but we needed to move to have any chance of moving to that next level. The Boleyn was never gonna generate the money needed to do this unfortunately.
Theyre trying to make the stadium better they’ve made season tickets one of if not the cheapest in the premier league. They’re looking at ideas on how to make the match day experience better for all of us fans. It’s a step by step process you can’t just expect everything to fall into place over night.
All I’m trying to get over is that the board do not get the respect they deserve. They’re the first ones to admit that they’re not perfect and they’ve made mistakes. Some of you have already said a few things which they have done wrong like going in for players who are never gonna come to us and there must surely be something wrong deep inside the club for all ex players to want to prove the club wrong in the ways they do.
There is a recent podcast where Sullivan addresses some of the things that have been said, the broken promises and a lot of the transfer issues. His admitted to doing things wrong and he and the management team have got a new transfer process they’re looking to put in place going forward starting with the summer window. I for one am looking forward to this coming in and I feel it will improve the team in long run. I expect us to have a good summer window and one that will surprise a lot of fans.
When the team play bad it’s crazy how everything gets blamed on the board. The board aren’t the ones on the pitch, they have no say on what formation to play, what team to play etc. The ones to blame when we don’t play well are the players. But what does this walk do? What does slagging and confronting the board do? It has a negative effect on the team and can only do more harm than good.
It’s your choice to do this walk but what is it exactlu you’ll be getting out of it? The board aren’t going anywhere soon they’re here for the long run and a lot of you should start letting this sink in.
Hugh. Fully agree with your actions.
We all have our views on our owners and they, by there own admission, have made many mistakes in their tenure as owners of our club. Their latest statements whereby they are intending to withdraw from the transfer business is encouraging. We just need to see if this happens. I can understand the fans displeasure with the teams performance on Saturday but the fault is with the players. Not the board. Not the manager. They were worse than dreadful and if we manage to stay in the PL a major overhaul is absolutely required in the summer just to stay a mid-table side. Will the board support a major overhaul. I do not know. But we must wait and see and then make a judgement. However, we will only have new owners in the future if the current board decide to sell and some mega-rich party is willing to buy the club. Being abusive to the board is not the answer to the current issues we have.
This is a contentious matter. It’s so easy to lose sight of the wood for the trees here.
The board/owners bailed the Club from threat of the abyss. True. The same board/owners have promised much by way of the Club’s growth and yet little evidence is seen on the ground. Selling the Boleyn is a raw nerve for many.; from disbelief to a sense of betrayal.
Several mediocre coaches have been visited on the fans – Mr Moyes very much included- and this has tested the patience of sectors of the fan base. While the lack of a professional player recruitment policy has resulted in some awful purchases and a very old, injury-prone, and ‘journeyman’ squad almost totally devoid of pace. Then Mr Moyes signs Evra and sidelines Michail Anronio: how does that work?
Overall, there is little hard evidence of inspirational or transformative leadership by the owners. Of course, if they so not possess the expertise required to run a complex, contemporary footballing business/brand, that is not a crime, I agree. The answer is to invite/recruit senior managers to the club and devolve authority to them to use their expertise to take the Club forward. Why is this not happening? Sell to owners who will run the club as a professional corporate business with an array of appropriate systems/policies, or retain ownership but genuinely invest in bringing in leadership expertise and devolve authority to them to effect real change and transformation.
In this way Mr Gold et al would become the ‘enablers’ of their Club’s growth. In time, hallowed heroes. At present rumour has it that there is too much ‘top down’ control on day to day operational management at the Club – this refers to the appointment of an IT manager – reflecting a lack of a strategic nous. the is an alternative to selling the Club. This option involves giving the reins to business managers who possess track records in leadership in the PL sector. Rumour or not, there is evidence from the Henry fiasco that a lack of business professionalism stalks the Club. It would beggar belief to imagine that Mr Levy at WHL would allow such malarkey to take place at his club.
Now it is far too easy to slip into acrimonious and downright offensive abuse of people. We are living in an epoch of abuse and disrespect. What happened to Mr Gold is truly despicable, serving only to rip the guts out of morale at every level of the Club’s operations. It should not be repeated.
However, unless totalitarianism is alive and well, the hateful abuse of Mr Gold should not be conflated and confused with genuine, reasoned critique and criticism. it should not be used as an excuse to stifle genuine, constructive criticism of the way the club is managed and led; or to critique the quality of coaching and playing staff. Constructive criticism of ‘how things are’ should not be censored. Abusive and offensive remarks should be. Comments do need to be moderated and HS and his editorial team, retain the right to apply appropriate editorial judgments. Nothing wrong with that at all. Yes, I suspect C&H is pro-owners/board and some of the postings do feel a little fabricated. Though I have no evidence of reasonable, intelligent criticism being stifled on this forum. COYI
Well Ruff – can’t argue too much with what you say and it really supports my views. I think (and sincerely hope) that the owners are now totally aware they most fans are ….. with events over the past few years. I do disagree with your views on Moyes. He was dealt a very bad hand when joining the club in terms of players – most over the hill and a lack of pace throughout the team. And we really do not know what went on in the January transfer window. Was the debacle down to the board or Moyes. We can only hope we retain PL status and see how the summer transfer business progresses. But for sure, abuse cannot and must not be tolerated at any level within our club.
Why oh why do people keep blaming the protesters for inept spineless performances on the pitch? If i were being paid as much as our players i think i would owe it to the club to try my heart out every game,not just when it suits. 50 to 80 grand a week and don’t even try is disgusting. They earn more in a week than i did in a year and i worked 8 till 5 in a manual job on building sites. We have been playing badly for a lot longer than these protests have been running.
Everyone.
It’s been a terrible few days (on top of a terrible couple of years) for west ham fans. Whether you think its ok to approach David gold in that way or not. Whether you think its even genuine or not. Let’s not divide ourselves even more over the incident. 99% of our fans are among the best in the country – hands down. Our passion is respected across the world truth be told. That’s why players come ( not the stadium), let’s please remember that over the next few weeks whatever your thoughts on the club and supporters. When the chips are down we are UNITED!