David Gold – From poverty to Ann Summers fortune and owning West Ham

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West Ham joint-owner David Gold, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 86, lived a storied life that involved going from living in poverty to amassing a huge fortune with Ann Summers – and then purchasing the football club he grew up near. The club released a statement confirming Gold’s passing, saying he had been battling a “short illness” and died peacefully with his fiancee and daughters by his side.

As a young boy, Gold played youth football for West Ham having grown up near the club’s Boleyn Ground before working in a stall with his brother Ralph where the pair sold pin-up magazines. He eventually moved to a shop in Soho and then into property.

Throughout his childhood, however, Gold suffered with illness, which he claims was due to living in poverty. “All of the illnesses I had were ones that affected the poor,” Gold told Get Surrey in 2019. “Next to me in the hospital was my friend Jimmy, who one night was ushered away. That could so easily have been me as we were the same age with the same condition. It was quite a shock to an eight-year-old boy, and very lonely times.”

At the age of eight, Gold had a bout of tuberculosis which he managed to overcome and then became a bricklayer before turning towards business, taking up the skills he picked up from his father.

After a brush with the law on three failed charges of obscenity, Gold met David Sullivan, who he would go on to co-own West Ham with. Together with Gold’s brother, they launched the Sunday Sport newspaper and bought Birmingham City in 1994.

Having followed Birmingham across the country, he was inspired to invest in air travel and Gold Air International was born. He also turned Ann Summers from a company with two stores and a £10,000 turnover, to one with 140 stores and a £109million turnover, as the owner of parent company Gold Group International which owned the store and lingerie chain Knickerbox.

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Gold’s business success gave him the chance to fulfil a dream in 2010 when a bid to buy his beloved West Ham United alongside Sullivan was accepted.

Upon his passing, Sullivan said: “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. David had a long-standing connection with the Hammers, having grown up opposite the Boleyn Ground in Green Street, and represented the Club at junior level. He always wanted what was best for West Ham United, and his passing is a great loss for all of us.”

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