Birmingham City chairman David Gold to leave the club

Oct 9 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

“Regrettably, our offer to David to become vice-president was turned down so the net result was that we were not able to come to a suitable agreement.

“We thank him for everything he has done for Birmingham City.”

Pannu has been nominated Blues’ vice chairman of executive and finance, one of Yeung’s main men in the new structure.

Hui is currently Grandtop International Holdings chief executive officer. Also included in the new set-up will be Michael Wiseman, Jack’s son, who has been a director since 2005. In time, he is likely to take on more responsibility, especially now Gold is on his way.

Gold’s position became very awkward after the out-going board signed-off MD Brady’s controversial £1 million ‘golden goodbye’.

The extent of her bonuses and perks infuriated Yeung, whose lawyers have been trying, unsuccessfully, to reduce the drain of the package awarded.

And Yeung and his associates were not wholly convinced that Gold wouldn’t decamp if Sullivan, a long-standing business partner, bought into another club.

Gold cashed in to the tune of £10.6 million by selling his 13 per cent stake in Blues to Yeung and Grandtop.

And, under the terms of his contract, he would have been entitled to £140,000 annual salary as a ‘management consultant’, through Gold Group International, had he remained.

His departure draws a line under the Sullivan-Gold-Brady era after 16-and-a-half years.

On Monday, Brady will hand over the keys to the club to Pannu and Sammy Yu, the prospective vice chairman of football and chief operations officer, who will receive presentations from senior managers.