West Ham United legend Tony Cottee has spoken out in defence of under fire David Gold but stopped short of mentioning his fellow co-owner David Sullivan.
West Ham supporters are deeply unhappy with the club’s lack of progress since their much-heralded move from Upton Park to the London Stadium.
A protest march against co-owners Sullivan and Gold and their vice-chairman Karren Brady was planned before the home game against Burnley this Saturday.
It came after groups of supporters joined forces over broken promises regarding the stadium move and transfer spending.
That march has since been called off by senior members of the group set up to arrange it but other fans are insisting they will still be protesting before the game.
That has left sections of Hammers fans at eachother’s throats ahead of this weekend’s crucial match against Burnley.
And it comes after co-owner Gold was filmed defending himself to supporters when stuck in traffic on the way home from West Ham‘s dreadful 4-1 defeat at Swansea City last time out.
The incident follows similar episodes between fans and the owners in recent years and led to the fanbase facing criticism from pundits and rivals fans.
“You can understand the fans being angry (although) I’m not condoning for one moment them sort of surrounding David Gold,” Cottee told talkSPORT.
“But David Gold is a very, very nice man and he DOES passionately care about West Ham United Football Club, there’s no doubt about that.”
Cottee also agreed that Gold’s attendance at matches is evidence he cares about the club despite his advancing years.
However, the legendary West Ham goalscorer stopped short of offering up any defence of Gold’s fellow co-owner Sullivan.
In fact he went one further, calling for change at the top if West Ham are to progress.
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