West Ham chairman David Gold has unequivocally backed the decision to hand outgoing Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore a £5million payout, and many fans have taken to Twitter to slam him for his comments.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, as relayed by BBC Sport editor Dan Roan on Twitter, Gold said: “This is all very appropriate and we’re all very pleased. We support the action that has been taken.”
West Ham fans on Twitter have now been reacting to Gold’s statement, and many have panned him for his out-of-touch words and expressed their anger at the club’s stance on the matter.
Forever West Ham have rounded up some of the best tweets below.
COMMENTARY
These West Ham fans are obviously pretty unhappy with Gold’s response, and that is only to be expected. When news of the £5million payout first emerged, the backlash among the football community meant that many expected clubs to reject such a proposal. As it turned out, there were just five clubs reported to be against such a move, and West Ham were quite obviously not one of them. Gold’s comments further illustrate the club’s supportive stance on the issue, and really rub salt in the wounds of football fans who bleed their bank accounts dry to come and watch their teams. That £5million could easily have gone towards grassroots football, or towards any number of charitable causes related to the game. Gold and his fellow executives have simply served to widen the gap between clubs and their fans with Thursday’s decision, and these fans have a right to be so put out by it.
Well said mr Stapleton , no disrespect to the Barking community but our owners are barking ✌️⚒
— Taff Manton (@taffmanton) November 15, 2018
@davidgold SHAMBLES!!!!! Grassroots football deserve it, ill people deserve it this man whos got over 10 million in his bank DOES NOT!!
— West Ham Hub (@WHUFC_HUB) November 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/mikoaks/status/1063102724219244544
https://twitter.com/bigrads92/status/1063118467212156929
Another thing on the long list of issues with this board.
— Sam Norton #SBOUT⚒ (@SN141190) November 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/HammerIt1/status/1063120650510966784
As someone who has very cleverly asset stripped our club I’m not surprised to see Gold say this is all fine. The sooner he moves on from our club the better. Embarrassing. #whufc
— Mike C (@mikecawston) November 15, 2018