Former Birmingham owner David Gold is banned from St Andrews
Birmingham City have banned former owner David Gold from St Andrews after he claimed that the club made him an offer to stay on as chairman, but then withdrew the offer once he sold the club.
Since selling the club to Hong Kong business man Carson Yeung, Gold has bought West Ham United.
The two teams are set to meet in the Premier League this Saturday 6 November at St Andrews and Gold will not be at the match after Birmingham imposed the ban.
Birmingham City issued a statement claiming that the comments made by Gold were “untrue and false”.
Birmingham had initially only banned Gold from the visiting director’s box and boardroom, but they have now extended the ban to the rest of the stadium.
Speaking to the press, acting chairman Peter Pannu stated that a deal to allow Gold to stay on in the capacity of chairman would have made "absolutely no sense".
The club statement did confirm that Gold was “offered an opportunity to remain as vice-president [non-executive] upon his request, which he refused.”
Birmingham are still considering whether they will take further action against Gold after his comments.
The statement concluded that, “All the current allegations are false and untrue and the club will keep all options open".
The former owner was expected to return to the club for the first time since selling Birmingham for £81.5m.
Gold has only taken over the ownership of West Ham since January and the club are currently bottom of the table and struggling in the Premier League under new manager Avram Grant.
The incident will add a further edge to the game as West Ham are desperately seeking points to lift themselves out of the relegation zone.
Gold will now be forced to watch the match elsewhere and the whole affair will be a bitter sideshow to the fixture.
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