David Gold responds to critic on Twitter and makes that the story

David Gold can’t help himself. He really can’t. If anyone has spent any time following the West Ham United co-chairman’s Twitter feed, it is easy to see that the man just can’t let things go. People tweet at him and he always feels the need to respond, even if it’s just some random punter complaining about how his pie was cold at the London Stadium or other such nonsense.

The problem with not being able to ignore people when they say negative things or when they tweet at you on twitter is that it is entirely too easy for other people to get you to react. In fact, the more obnoxious that the other person is, the more likely it is that a response is coming, and therefore it rewards the obnoxious behavior.

Anyone who is a parent of a toddler knows how this goes. If you ignore your kid’s obnoxious behavior, like throwing a fit in a car seat, then the kid won’t do it again to get attention. It’s hard at the time, yeah, but it’s something you have to be firm about and need to do otherwise you’ll be dealing with temper tantrums every time you go to a store or go on a trip.

David Gold must not have learned this, because every time he responds to someone on Twitter, it becomes a story. Literally hundreds of people talk about West Ham on the radio or online or in print every day. Hundreds. And a lot of them say things that aren’t particularly nice. Comes with the territory. Managers of football clubs rarely respond in the press to what people say about them because they know it literally does no good and just prolongs the story. Slaven Bilić, for example, refused to take Dimitri Payet’s bait when Payet spoke negatively about his time this year at West Ham. Other people at West Ham responded and all it did was prolong the story.

And so when Jason Cundy on talkSPORT says negative things about West Ham and how the transfer policy isn’t good and that Bilić should leave, the proper response is to leave it alone. Ignore him. The whole point of radio is to get people to listen. American sports fans should be familiar with this kind of behavior, as people like Jim Rome or Colin Cowherd have made a living on saying obnoxious things on radio or TV to get attention. It’s part of the game.

But rather than ignore Cundy, Gold takes to Twitter to “defend” himself and the team’s transfer policy. Which is silly, because then Gold’s tweet becomes a story on an international break weekend, when there are no games to draw people’s attention away from a war of words. Instead, the story becomes Gold’s laughable defense of loan signings, and what Cundy said. No one would be talking about what was said on talkSPORT on Sunday or Monday if Gold hadn’t responded to it and now everyone is going to be talking about West Ham’s transfer policy all over again this weekend.

Oh, and just for the record, the transfer policy at West Ham is a murky swamp of innuendo, finger-pointing, and blame being passed around. It’s a whole separate subject which has been discussed over and over again, even on BTH’s podcasts. So check out what we’ve all said on it, because nothing Gold tweets is going to change anyone’s opinion on that.

David Gold needs to grow thicker skin or someone needs to steal his phone and bury it in his garden. Owning a football club is a high-profile position which means that lots of people will have strong opinions and strong passions about the performance and operations of the club. And while most of them aren’t going to be rude or mean, some will. Ignoring the “haters” may be difficult, but it’s the only way to really keep from going insane and to allowing others to set the public narrative about the club.