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Slaven Bilic insists West Ham are lucky to have David Sullivan and David Gold running the club. The Hammers are one of a dwindling number or Premier League clubs with English owners, while just this week Chinese businessman Jisheng Gao bought a majority stake in Saturday's opponents Southampton. West Ham's' joint-chairmen occasionally come in for criticism from fans over issues such as the move to the London Stadium, their transfer business and appearances in the media. But boss Bilic said: "I'm sure they are very appreciated by the fans. "The fans who live for West Ham, they know how good the chairmen are doing for the club, how much they invest. They got the club up and I think they are very well appreciated. "It's better for the club to be run by someone who knows the history, the environment, the business part of it, someone who is not going gung-ho. "Gung-ho in a game can work but it is also likely not to work, especially if you do it every time. "Those clubs and those chairmen should be praised, because it's not easy to resist those kind of offers. "They should at least be appreciated, from the fans and from the whole of football.'' Sullivan and Gold have invested heavily this summer in Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez and are still hoping to land Portugal midfielder William Carvalho from Sporting Lisbon. West Ham are still some way short of being able to compete with the inflated fees paid by major clubs, but Bilic insists money is not everything. "Not every takeover is like Manchester City, or Paris St Germain, some takeovers didn't go that good,'' he added. "It's not a guarantee. Some things you can't buy. You can't buy mentality, you can't buy tradition. You can't buy the time. "I don't care about the others but West Ham is on the right way and I think everyone connected with West Ham knows the chairmen are doing their best within the budget.'' Sullivan and Gold on Friday tied down key defender Winston Reid to a new six-year contract, keeping him at the club until 2023.
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