David Gold - Biography

David Gold (born 9 September 1936) in Stepney, East London is an English businessman. He was the chairman of Birmingham City until 2009 and since 2010 he has been the joint-chairman of West Ham United. Gold was raised in abject poverty in the slums of East London and for some time lived at 442 Green Street near to West Ham's Boleyn Ground. His father was an East End criminal, known locally as 'Goldy', who spent time in prison during Gold's early years.

Businesses

Gold owns Gold Group International (GGI), the parent company of the retailer Ann Summers, lingerie chain Knickerbox, and owned pornographic magazine company Gold Star Publications (GSP), printing and distribution businesses and until 2006, corporate air service Gold Air International. GGI was jointly owned by David and his brother Ralph, until David bought out Ralph's share in 2008.

In 2006 he sold his charter airline, Gold Air for £4.4m. The brothers in 2007 sold their share in Sport Newspapers, following falling sales and profits. His daughter Jacqueline Gold is chief executive of Ann Summers and Knickerbox Ltd.

Football clubs

Gold is the former chairman of Birmingham City. In 2007 the Gold brothers were believed to be in the process of selling their share in Birmingham City which followed Birmingham's return from relegation and lower than expected profits. After the club was relegated once again to the Championship in May 2008, Gold was quoted as saying he was considering stepping down as joint head of the board of Birmingham City. He sold his Birmingham City shares in 2009.

In May 2005, Gold bought the second FA Cup trophy at auction for £488,620, saying he wanted to prevent it being bought by overseas buyers.

In January 2010 Gold and David Sullivan acquired a 50 percent share of West Ham United giving them overall operational and commercial control of the club. They were appointed joint chairmen. They increased their share of the club to 30% each in May 2010 at a cost of £8 million. His time as chairman of West Ham has been conspicuous due to several incidents. In August 2010 his Rolls-Royce Phantom car was attacked by Aston Villa fans outside a pub near Villa Park after West Ham's 3-0 defeat. The car sustained £8,500 worth of damage. He described the incident as "the most frightening experience of my football life". In November 2010 Gold criticised Birmingham City's new owners for reneging on their promise to keep him on as chairman following the sale of the club. Birmingham City and their acting chairman, Peter Pannu, responded by banning Gold from their ground St Andrew's for Birmingham City's game against West Ham on 6 November. Gold later issued a personal apology to Pannu on West Ham's own website.

Sunday Times Rich List ranking

In 2010 the Gold family fortune rose to £360m placing them 186th in the Rich List 2010, an improvement on 2009 which saw the Golds rise six places to 178th in the rankings, however with another large decline of £150m in their fortunes to £300m. The family dropped 51 places to 184th, with their fortune dropping £100m to £450m in the 2008 list. Previously they were valued at £550m and ranked 133rd in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007. Dropping from 119th, with a value of £525m in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006. Previous rankings were 82nd – value £370m in 2001, 72nd – value £410m in 2002, 67th – value £465m in 2003, 79th – value £495m in 2004 and 92nd – value £515m in 2005.

Autobiography

In 2005, Gold wrote his autobiography Pure Gold with professional co-writer Bob Harris. This dwells on his early childhood poverty, ascent as a pornographer, and involvement with Birmingham City.

Advocate of lowering football club debt

After the campaign against Malcolm Glazer's increase in the debt of Manchester United and Portsmouth going into administration in 2010, Gold has advocated regulating football clubs' debts. He feels it is "cheating" for a team to take on debts which they could never pay off without external assistance and that he "fears for the league".

External links

• David Gold official Website
• Gold Group International official Website