David Gold: I have great memories of my time at Birmingham City
David Gold returns to St Andrew’s on Saturday admitting that he expected to be sitting in his usual seat.
West Ham United’s joint-chairman says that he didn’t envisage leaving Blues.
But his ‘acrimonious’ departure will not stop him from enjoying an emotional reunion with the friends he made over a 16 1/2-year period running the club.
Blues take on the Hammers with a fascinating sideshow in prospect.
Gold and David Sullivan have not been back to Blues since they sold out to Carson Yeung.
Gold says he doesn’t know what sort of reception they will receive from fans, and the old and new regimes have hardly been on the best of terms.
“I left Birmingham in rather acrimonious circumstances,” says Gold, who claimed he was offered a vice-chairman role, which was hotly denied by Yeung’s right-hand man Peter Pannu, so much so that he threatened legal action.
“That was hugely, hugely disappointing at the time. I was very saddened by how it all ended as I had mapped out my future life continuing there.
“I had no thought of West Ham, although they were always in the back of my mind because I was a supporter and they were my boyhood club.
“But once it happened, I moved onto my next chapter. Whether it was to be at Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic, West Ham, I didn’t know.
