West Ham United co-owner David Gold has hit back at Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard after the Englishman claimed that The Hammers played ‘dirty tricks’ before the game got underway.
Gerrard, who scored both Liverpool’s goals in a 2-1 victory, claimed that the pitch was too dry, the dressing room was too hot and that they had to park a mile away from Upton Park, meaning they had to walk much further than usual.
However, Gold took to his official Twitter account to rubbish those claims and also added a picture of the Liverpool team bus which is clearly seen right outside of the stadium.
Gold tweeted: ‘Mr Gerrard nobody force your bus driver to park a mile away from the ground, it was his choice. If the heating is too warm, turn it down.’
West Ham then released a formal statement on their website regarding the complaints from Gerrard.
‘The unusual parking location is estimated to have added around 20metres to the usual walk from the coach door to the Players’ entrance.
‘Another suggestion was that the visitors were housed in a ‘hot’ dressing room, which caused some bemusement as West Ham staff received no complaint about the temperature from the visitors. Of course, West Ham staff would have been happy to turn up the air conditioning at our opponents’ request.
‘Finally, the consistent overnight rain that fell on the Boleyn Ground on Saturday meant that the ‘dry’ playing surface might have been a little wetter than was suggested.
‘West Ham United make every provision for visiting staff, players and supporters at the Boleyn Ground and are proud of the East End welcome the Club provides.’
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles