Birmingham ban former owner Gold from boardroom

Former Birmingham co-owner David Gold has been banned from the directors’ box and boardroom when he travels to St Andrew’s with his current club West Ham for Saturday’s Premier League match.

Gold, now co-owner of the Hammers, angered Birmingham supremo Carson Yeung and his directors with a series of controversial comments in the Birmingham Mail this week about the club he was in charge of for 16 years along with David Sullivan.

He described current City vice-chairman Peter Pannu as “disgusting” in the article and claimed that he was denied the chance to remain as chairman of Birmingham by Pannu after he and Sullivan sold the club to Hong Kong-based businessman Yeung for 8.5 million pounds (13.8 million dollars).

Pannu has been adamant Gold was never guaranteed such a role and Birmingham have sent a letter to West Ham saying Gold will not be welcome in the directors’ box or boardroom after his remarks.

It said: “The board feel that they are left with no other option but to withdraw Mr Gold’s invitation and that this is the appropriate action to take.

“In addition, the board are also mindful of potential security issues for Mr Gold and a possible adverse reaction that may arise from the Birmingham supporters as a result of the comments made.

“Furthermore, as club owner and president Carson Yeung will also be flying in for the game, the board felt that a harmonious boardroom environment should not be affected as we all want a good atmosphere on the day and a good game of football.”

It remains to be seen whether Gold will try to attend in a non-official capacity, but he admitted this week that he had “some trepidation” about going to the fixture.