David Gold has been speaking about the club's policy regarding transfer news - and explaining why the job of announcing new signings has been left to his partner's son of late.
Jack Sullivan - the teenage son of Gold's co-owner David Sullivan - has become something of an Twitter sensation in recent months since he began to leak the club's breaking transfer news via the social network.Earlier today he was the first to reveal that Andy Carroll had agreed terms with the club on a six-year deal and was undergoing a medical - making the club's own website, which had previously been charged with making such announcements (as is customary with other professional clubs) essentially redundant.
The issue was raised tonight during a Q&A session following a speech Gold had given as part of Newham Council's 'Ideas Olympiad' at Stratford Circus.
Asked by a member of the audience how he felt about young Jack breaking West Ham transfer news via Twitter, Gold - after a long pause - replied: "He's 13 years of age and he's in kind of a privileged situation.
"He hears things. His father wouldn't say to him "look, this is what's happened, go and Tweet it" - he wouldn't do that. Jack happened to be around the house today, he's picked up something and he can't resist it.
"When he goes to school tomorrow, he'll be like a God; he'll swan around like the King. So give him some slack, he's a good kid and I like him very much - although I could whack him when he does this!
"What you will hear in due course are the actual facts, when the [Carroll] deal is done. We're close, but Jack doesn't care - he'll still be a star when he goes to school tomorrow and that's the end of the matter.
"But he is a good kid."
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