West Ham co-owner David Gold insists the club is "moving upwards" despite dropping into the relegation zone. .
Back in 2016 Gold set out his vision for Champions League football at the London Stadium "within five years" but the Hammers have since failed to finish in the top half of the Premier League.
The decision to re-appoint David Moyes - charged with arresting an alarming slide down the table - drew criticism from West Ham fans, and their failure to pull away from trouble since has only heightened the unrest.
On top of that is the broad unpopularity of the club's move from Upton Park to the London Stadium, despite recent efforts to improve the facilities for match-going supporters.
Gold, though, maintains he has no regrets.
Gold told reporters: "We've now got a stadium which holds 60,000 from one which held 35,000.
"We do understand that there have been difficulties with the stadium but you've only got to go back and look at what you had at West Ham.
"When I was a boy as a fan, all I remember is a football club in the old second division, all my young life it was in the old second division.
"At least it's in the Premier League now. OK, we've got a few problems now, but overall we're moving upwards."
Gold, 83, added that he remains convinced the club can achieve their stated goal of regular European football.
"You'd like to do it in five years, which we hoped would happen," he admitted.
"But it's not because we've taken all the money out and gone off to Barbados to sit in the sunshine.
"I've not received a penny in salary or expenses from West Ham in 10 years. I know of owners or chief executives that are earning £3million a year, and more."
Additional reporting by PA
