Flingpord

  West Ham’s co-chairman David Gold has died at the age of 86 following a short illness, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday. Gold was a lifelong Hammer, having grown up opposite the club’s former Boleyn Ground Upton home in east London before playing for West Ham’s boys’ team as a teenager. In January 2010 he fulfilled a dream by becoming co-chairman of West Ham. West Ham are set to be away to Leeds later Wednesday, with tributes to Gold expected during the course of the match. Gold died with his daughters, Jacqueline and Vanessa, and his fiancée Lesley, by his side on Wednesday morning, West Ham said. West Ham joint-chairman David Sullivan told the club website: “On behalf of everyone at the football club, it is with profound sorrow and a heavy heart that we mourn the passing of our colleague and friend, David Gold. “Of all our joint ventures, none gave us more pride and happiness than the day we took ownership of West Ham United, our club, in January 2010.” Hammers ma...